


A Diplomat Never Says No

by ObsessedWithLeviHeichou



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blow Jobs, Bottom Eren Yeager, Daddy Issues, F/F, F/M, M/M, Politics, Public Sex, Recreational Drug Use, Semi-Public Sex, Slow Burn, Smut, Sugar Daddy, Top Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Travel, armin gets to travel, basically they just get into some stuff here that they probably shouldnt, eren gets hot diplomat ass, eren is a diplomat's son, erwin is also a diplomat, its not an international incident though, levi is a diplomat, the levi erwin stuff is super minimal, there will be other stuff, you know the drill with these
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:39:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 73,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26336551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsessedWithLeviHeichou/pseuds/ObsessedWithLeviHeichou
Summary: Eren is the son of an emotionally absent diplomat, who couldn't have been more pleased to head out on a vacation for a month with his dad and his best friend. Of course, as all good diplomats know, they never say no. Like father like son, Eren has a hard time coaxing the word out of his mouth, and it only gets harder as they get further away from his suburban reality.
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Erwin Smith, Levi & Eren Yeager, Levi/Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman/Jean Kirstein, Petra Ral/Hange Zoë
Comments: 90
Kudos: 105
Collections: Shingeki no Kyojin(LevixEren)





	1. Unexpected developments

**Author's Note:**

> helloooo and welcome to my first fanfiction in like, 5 years. i've always thought about this, and i finally decided that despite my 1L year, i was going to write it down and get it out there. 
> 
> i'm a bit rusty so if you come across this, and you feel the need, please leave a comment and lmk how it's going. okay thanks ily please enjoy my fantasy escape
> 
> (yes its a slow burn but tomorrow he'll meet a special someone)
> 
> ((rating changed to E for chapter 8 huehue))

“Happy birthday Eren!”

I grinned ear to ear, looking around the table at my friends. I took a moment of gratitude for all of them. They’ve stuck with me for 21 years now. Maybe 21 years too long, considering my antics. I blew out my candles and laughed.

“You guys are the best, seriously.” I exclaimed. I looked down at the table, tracing the patterns of the dark wood with my fingertips. I couldn’t have asked for a better 21st birthday. Armin, my childhood best friend, gave me a coy smile and a wink.

“So… What did ya wish for Eren?” He asked, blue eyes wide with anticipation. I chuckled and groaned at the same time, bringing my hand up only to drag it down my face in quasi-frustration. I could never be frustrated at Armin. We had been friends for 21 years now, but he _never_ failed to catch me off guard. I spread apart my fingers to peep a round green eye at my friend, and sighed.

“I wish… for something exciting to happen this summer.” I responded, only slightly lamely. Mikasa and Jean, my sister and her boyfriend, gave me the most disappointed looks I’d ever seen. It was worse than the ones my dad gives me, when he’s home at least. I held my hands up in defeat.

“Okay! Okay you got me. What do you want me to wish for? World domination?” I scanned the big table again. Mikasa’s blank look had turned into a smile, and Jean chuckled lightly. I knew what they wanted me to wish for.

“No, I want you to wish for something you actually want. Something you haven’t had yet.” Mikasa said, hiding the bottom half of her face in the big red scarf I had given her last Christmas. It was March, but it was still cold as hell over here. I studied her face, trying to figure out what she wanted me to say. This felt like a trick question, and I was suddenly hyper aware of how loud my heartbeat was. _Shit._ I thought, putting a hand over my chest

“Honestly, I was serious the first time,” I responded, shrugging my shoulders nonchalantly. “I really just want something interesting to happen this year. I feel like, ya know,” I pulled my lips into a thin line, while searching the eyes of my friends. “I feel like everyone has something fun to do this summer but me, and it kinda sucks. I feel like I always do the same thing, while you guys are always traveling or taking summer classes. I just feel like life is passing me by, I guess.”

I slumped back into the dark oak chair I was seated in at the head of the table. Although that sounded depressing, it was true. For the past three summers, Mikasa and Jean had found some sort of study-abroad program with their soccer teams. Armin always seemed to get into some high-ranking engineering summer “camp”—or at least that’s what he liked to call it. My friends in the outer rings of our groups traveled back to their family homes for the summer, even though we had all just graduated that past December. _I wish Marco, Connie, and Sasha were here._ I kept the thought to myself though, as it had been about four months since I had seen them.

All of us had gone to the local university together and had spent the last three and a half years hanging out nearly every hour of every day. We studied together, we partied together, and we lived together. The transition back to my core group that lived near my dad’s house was much smaller, but I felt like we had been through everything with each other. Mikasa and I had lived together for most of our childhood with our mom and dad, but she ended up moving out at 18 when mom died. She moved in with Jean’s family, much to my irritation and loss. I couldn’t blame her. My dad’s house was huge, and every corner of the house reminded me of my mom. My dad could have afforded to either sell the house and move, or just get an interior decorator to re-do the whole thing, but instead, he threw himself into his political work and traveled for weeks at a time. I was often left alone in the three-story house all to myself, which sucked for a whole host of reasons. One of which, that it’s really fucking weird to be the only one in such a large house.

“Eren, you know you can come with us, right?” Mikasa said, gently placing a warm, pale hand over my own. I looked up at her and her sweet smile and jet black hair with a sheepish smile, trying my damned best to look the least pathetic possible.

“It’s okay Mikasa, I don’t want to intrude on you and Jean. You guys have been planning this trip for ages, and I wouldn’t feel right taking that away from you.” I placed my warmer, tanner hand over hers. “Plus, I don’t think I want to be stuck in a one-bedroom Air BnB in the German countryside with just you two. I don’t think I’ll ever get a decent night of sleep.” Mikasa pulled her hand away and gasped, trying to feign disgust.

“Ew! Eren! Gross.” Mikasa leaned her head all the way back while rolling her eyes. I wasn’t trying to be gross, but, after living in a house with them in college, I didn’t think I could stomach hearing them another night.

“Sorry! Just being honest.” I held up my hands defensively, a smirk appearing on my face. Jean was staring daggers into my soul, and I could feel the blades sinking into my skin as the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

“Get some headphones Jaeger.” Jean snorted, grabbing a knife to cut the small cake my friends had bought for me. It was a simple circle, with green frosting, and “Happy birth Eren” written on it. I knew Armin hated it, the grammar was wrong, and the handwriting was sloppy. I knew he secretly thought he could do much better, even if he had almost negative creative or artistic cells in his body.

“Eren, if you don’t want to go with them, why don’t you see if your dad has anything planned?” Armin inquired, reaching for a paper plate and a slice of cake. He picked the smallest piece and made sure to grab both a fork and knife. I looked up at the ceiling and licked my top lip. _He doesn’t want to drag me around._ Knowing my dad, he was probably off god knows where doing god knows what. Gambling? Drinking? Cocaine? Fuck if I know. He had been a low-level politician when I was growing up, but soon became an important diplomatic figure who traveled the world. After mom died, we hadn’t gotten along quite the same. He showered me in gifts and AmEx cards instead of emotional attention.

“Jaeger has daddy issues; he doesn’t want to go anywhere with him. He’ll be too uncomfortable.” Jean chortled, spitting cake onto the table as he laughed. I stopped my fork halfway to my mouth and gave him an unimpressed expression.

“Not funny Jean, I don’t have daddy issues.” All three of my friends exchanged nervous glances at each other. “I’m serious! When have I ever given any indication of that?” I choked out, _really_ hoping that Armin wouldn’t bring up that thing with one of my professors from a while ago. Armin blushed and shoved some cake into his mouth. _Good, thank fuck._ I rolled my eyes. I didn’t think I had daddy issues, if anything, it would have been mommy issues. I guess having emotionally unavailable and/or dead parents creates kids with low emotional intelligence or something.

“Either way, Eren,” Mikasa gently put her fork down and dabbed at her mouth. “Either way, you should really see if dad will take you somewhere. It might be an easy way for you to travel. And you _know_ he isn’t going to care where you go and will probably just put you up in a separate hotel somewhere.”

Mikasa was, unfortunately, right. I hung my head in my hands, fingers twisting my long brown locks. Dad went to some pretty sweet places and had always tried to invite me. I usually turned him down though. It was hard to talk to him, and we didn’t have much in common. He had checked out for the entire time I was in college because mom had died that summer and hadn’t bothered to really talk to me unless it was a notification that my school tuition had been paid. I grimaced and shook my head.

“I dunno. I just feel like he wouldn’t want to bring me anyway. I keep turning him down.”

“You never know if you don’t try!” Mikasa said, with a smile of reassurance. She and dad were much closer than dad and I, even though she lived in a whole different part of town. She had moved out of our swanky suburban neighborhood where the Audi SUV parents lived in favor of Jean’s shitty one-bedroom apartment near the city center. She claimed it was for work, but I knew the house made her uncomfortable. She still made it a point to call dad every weekend and text him about her life, something that I seemed to be failing to do.

“I guess. I can call him later and ask. Armin, what are you doing this summer?” I asked, rubbing the back of my neck. _Please not another summer camp._

“Nothing, actually. I was going to see if you wanted to hang out more.” The blond boy said, pulling his long blond locks into a low ponytail. “Honestly, maybe we could ask your dad together? My grandpa is just going to work all summer. It won’t be much fun.” I chewed on my bottom lip, anxious about that potential phone call. My dad liked Armin, but I wasn’t even sure he would agree to me being on a trip with him, let alone my best friend.

“I’ll try Ar, I’ll call him and ask.” I stood up and grabbed my paper plate and half eaten cake and threw it into the fancy metal garbage can. Suddenly, I wasn’t hungry anymore. Armin smiled from ear to ear, his big blue eyes crinkling at the edges.

“Thanks Eren, it would be super fun to hang out somewhere new. I’ve always wanted to travel!”

“Haven’t you gone with your summer camps?” I inquired, turning around from the automatically closing trash can to study my best friend’s face. He bobbed his head from side to side and put a finger up to his lip.

“I mean, I have,” He said, with some hesitation in his soft voice. “But, it’s not the same. We pretty much only go domestic, and even then, the majority of the time I’m in some sort of robotics lab. Not much of a vacation.” I nodded in response. _I’m actually going to have to do this then._ I despised seeing Armin hurt. When Annie had broken his heart back in Junior year, I thought I was going to kill that girl. I had never seen so much red in my entire life. I had a temper, yeah, but nothing compared to the way my entire body shook with rage when Armin came home crying. I may or may not have had a chat with her later on. She may or may not have transferred schools. _Whoops._

“I’ll text him.” I smiled, and pulled out my phone, flipping through my contacts to find “Grisha.” _Not even dad in my phone._ Mikasa had made fun of me, or, moreso, chided me about how I “ought to show him some respect.” I hadn’t agreed with her. If he couldn’t be assed to check up on me every now and again, I didn’t feel the need to label him as “dad” in my phone or anything. I pulled up the message screen. _The last message was a “Merry Christmas” text._ I shook my head at nobody in particular, my brow furrowing as I hovered my thumbs over the touchscreen.

Mikasa and Jean had started to clean up. They grabbed most of the trash and shoved it into whatever fancy garbage can my dad had ordered this week and pulled out some bottles of wine. Mikasa and Jean had turned 21 before me, so they decided to treat me today. To be honest, I wanted to go to a bar, but I didn’t want to mention that to them. Mikasa enjoyed spoiling me on holidays because mom couldn’t, and I didn’t want to disappoint her. I locked my phone screen and gave them my full attention, not totally ready to ask my dad yet.

“Happy birthday Eren, I hope you like pinot noir!” Mikasa said, twirling around in her pink sweatshirt and leggings. Jean smiled and looked at her with the most adoring of eyes. Even though I truly thought he was as ugly as a poorly bred horse, with his two-toned hair and long nose, I was sure any girl would be jealous of the way he looked at my sister. He really was a kind man, despite our differences. Jean popped the bottle out of her hands and poured some into each of our cups.

“Thanks Mikasa, I love you. I can’t imagine what I’d do without you.” I smiled as I swirled the alcohol around in the cup. I wasn’t new to drinking, but I was new to drinking legally. Armin was still 20, but he still drank with us, despite his rigid stance on following the law. _He should have been a lawyer._

“Here’s to another year in paradise.” Jean droned out, raising his glass. We all clinked them and took sips of our wine. It was _okay._ I was more of a liquor guy, but I wasn’t going to complain. I was here, in the company of my friends, drinking wine and sharing childhood stories. I leaned back into my chair and put my hands behind my head, interlocking my fingers and placing them on the back of my brown mop. _I’m so proud of them._ I really was. Watching them laugh with each other and smile about stupid memories was the best entertainment in the world.

Unfortunately, I was quickly pulled out of my bliss as I heard my cell phone buzzing in my pocket. I had nearly fallen backwards out of the chair, the front two legs landing back on the ground with a loud _slam._

“Uh, I’ll be right back.” _Shit._ “Hey dad.” I nervously mumbled, walking away from the group into the sunken living room. I sat down on one of the enormous couches my dad had bought for no one in particular.

“Hey Eren. Happy birthday.” I rolled my eyes, thankful that he couldn’t see me right now. I slapped a hand to my forehead and dug my fingertips into my temple.

“Thanks dad. What’s up?” I had to cut to the chase. I wasn’t about to miss out on birthday wine with a lame phone call from my absentee father.

“Oh, nothing. I just figured I’d actually call you instead of texting you this year.” Grisha said, with a chuckle. I could tell that he was smiling. _He sounds more like himself._ I took a minute and waited to respond. “Actually, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Sure dad, what’s up?” I responded, nervously looking back into the kitchen to see if any of my friends were listening in. It wasn’t so much that the conversation was private, but that I was just a more private person, and my dad made me only a little uncomfortable. Last time he wanted to ask me something, he asked me how often I would use a boat. I had to explain to him that we lived nowhere near a coast, and that it would be a total waste of the money that he apparently could shit out at will. He bought the boat anyway.

“I was going to see if you wanted to come with me this summer for a month. I’m traveling for a full four weeks, and I’m hitting DC, New York, London, and then Paris. I know,” I cut him off mid-sentence.

“Really?” I asked, incredulously. _No fucking way._

“Yeah. I know that I haven’t really been there for you, and honestly,” Grisha laughed from the bottom of his stomach, “I don’t know how much of that time I’ll be spending with you, but I figured you could see if Armin wanted to tag along.” _Bingo._

“Yeah dad,” My phone threatened to slip out of my now sweaty hands. “That actually sounds great. We were just talking about how I should go with you sometime.” _Stupid, he doesn’t care._

“Well, I always told you that you were welcome to join. Again, I know I’m gone a lot, so I understand if you want to stay home. I was planning on getting you and Armin your own hotel room anyway, because I’m sure you boys will be out on the town and I’m too old to be woken up at 4AM.” Grisha chuckled again. I could hear the smile on his face. _Who says out on the town?_

“Who says out on the town anymore?” I laughed, feeling strange that my dad had elicited a genuine smile out of my face. I heard him blow out air from his nostrils, like I do when I see a funny meme or something.

“Like I said, I’m old. So! If you’re serious, I’ll send you and Armin the flight information. We would leave in five days.” My mouth dropped. _Five days?_

“Five days? Like from today?” I asked, turning to look at Armin. He wasn’t paying attention. I had a feeling the lack of planning would make him anxious. “Is it that soon? Isn’t that a little last minute?”

“Yeah, it is.” He said, sighing. “I understand if you don’t want to go, it’s okay.” He paused suspiciously. “You guys would be flying first class though, with a bunch of really influential people.” I rolled my eyes and almost shoved my fist into my mouth to stifle a groan. Popularity was never my thing.

“Sure. I’ll let Armin know. Send us the details.”

“Great! Wow, I’m so happy you’re finally tagging along!”

“Dad?” I asked, playing with the collar of my shirt. “Am I actually going to see you? Or are you just going to say hello and see me again on the flight home?” I could hear the hesitation in Grisha’s voice. “Just tell me straight, I’m an adult and I just want to know.” I said, frustrated. I was kidding myself, I already knew the answer.

“Whew. Uh, well, I’ll already be in New York by the time you get here, so I’ll be picking you and Armin up from the airport. Then, if you guys would like, you’re welcome to come to some of the functions I go to if you don’t have too much sightseeing to do. I think Armin could meet some really cool people, and I have a feeling you might as well.” He had a slightly suspicious tone to his voice as he said that, and I did _not_ like it one bit.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, just important people. You might want to ask them for networking opportunities or something.” I could see him shrugging. I closed my eyelids.

“Okay. Cool. Well, let me know the deets and I’ll let Armin know, and I guess we’ll see you soon?” I said, bringing my ass off the plush couch to head back to the kitchen.

“Sounds good! Again, happy birthday kiddo. I really do love you. I know it’s been hard, and I haven’t been great, but I think it’d be good if we could work together on this.” I could hear the pleading in his voice. He wanted to make up for all the lost years, all the emotional abandonment. Apparently, my body was an absolute sucker for that, as my nose started to get runny.

“Thanks dad. I love you too. I’ll see ya.” I hung up the phone and looked towards the ceiling, blinking my eyes to reabsorb the tears that had started forming. I was quick to anger and quick to respond. Like I said, emotionally unintelligent. I usually had no idea what I was feeling until my body reacted in some way. _I guess I miss him_.

“Hey Ar!” I waved, grabbing the short blond boy’s attention. He waved back, wearing one of his goofy sweater vests.

“What’s up Eren!” He fake yelled from the kitchen. I couldn’t stop my face from opening up into one of the largest smiles I’d had in a long time.

“We’re going to travel the world this summer!”


	2. Was it seat 3B or 3C?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our favorite boys head out on their adventure and meet our other two favorite boys and some friends may have shown up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> long chapter because i couldn't seem to properly set up the meeting in a shorter chapter. but i think you'll enjoy, and bc of labor day i might just have the next chapter out later tonight. 
> 
> might be shorter tho. enjoy!

“Eren, seriously?” Armin asked, exasperation dripping from his lips with the words. He closed his eyes and shook his head. “You can’t wear stuff like this to political forums, are you absolutely blind?”

I looked up from the floor, where I was very viciously attempting to shove a month’s worth of clothes into a suitcase by repeatedly pushing down on the top. I wiped some sweat off my forehead.

“What do you mean?” I asked, standing up to take a look at the clothes Armin had laid out on my olive-green comforter. He took a step back and cocked his head at me, with a face that could only mean _are you serious?_ I picked up one of my button downs. “This is fine, right? Business casual and shit?” I rotated the hanger in my hands. Sure, it was a little worn down, but it still looked presentable.

Armin grabbed the shirt out of my hands. “Absolutely not. You are not wearing this when we meet some of the most important people in world politics, I am not going to let you embarrass yourself or embarrass me.” He shoved it into my closet, pilfering through the rest of my “nicer” clothes. “You have literally _no_ presentable clothes. Your dad works in politics--“ Armin turned around, rolling his eyes to the ceiling and waving his hands for additional emphasis. “There’s no way he’d let you go out like this. No way.” 

“Well, we don’t exactly have a ton of time, we leave in less than twelve hours.” I stated, arms by my sides, looking at Armin with as serious of a face as I could make while watching my smaller blond friend rifle through outfits I hadn’t touched since high school debate club. I stifled a laugh as he pulled out a hideous pair of brown dress slacks.

“Okay, look at these.” Armin said, shoving the pants closer to me. I instinctively stepped back, wincing. “You cannot look me in the eyes and _seriously_ tell me that these are appropriate for a political forum. Where did you get these?” He asked, observing the post-Chinese food puke colored slacks. “The salvation army? God, it looks like my grandpa would have worn these back in the day.” Armin slid the pants off the hanger and looked me in the eyes the entire way he ambled to my trash can, making a point to click his tongue as he dropped them into the basket.

“I’m serious Eren, we have to run to the mall or something. I can’t let you do this, not to me, not to you, and most certainly not to anyone else there.” Armin said, picking up his lanyard from my white bedside dresser, his keys jingling as he placed it around his neck. I stood there and crossed my arms.

“We don’t have time, I still need to make sure I say goodbye to Jean and Mikasa, and—” Armin looked at me, lips in a tight line, eyebrows flat but lightly raised. His blond bangs covered most of his eyebrows, but I still knew the face he was giving me. “Ugh, fine.” I groaned, grabbing my wallet from the matching dresser. “Fucking fine, you win, it’s dress-up-Eren time.” Armin gave me a sly smile without moving his eyebrows. “But you have to drive.” I added, shoving my phone into my pants pocket and walking towards the door.

“Sounds good!” Armin said, jumping up and down before following me out of the door frame. We walked down the flight of dark wooden stairs into the living room, where Armin nearly killed himself jumping out in surprise. “What are you guys doing here?” He asked, eyes wide, white knuckles holding the railing like it was his only lifeline. Which it was. I peered around the wall to see Jean, Mikasa, Sasha, Connie, and Marco all sitting around the coffee table in the living room. _What the fuck?_

“So, dad called. Turns out, he wanted Jean and I to at least visit while we’re in Germany, since our trips will match up.” Mikasa gestured to my other friends. “Right after dad called, Sasha called and told me that their Model UN club or something was headed to a couple conferences that match up with exactly where you, Armin, and dad are headed.” I let out a breath of air I didn’t realize I was holding as my heart exploded in my chest. I pushed past Armin and ran to hug my friends.

“Wow,” I said, grinning from ear to ear. “I had no idea! That’s so cool!” I laughed as I hugged Sasha, Connie, and Marco one by one. Armin followed me and hugged them as well, and I rubbed the back of my neck. “So, I wonder if that’s where dad is going then?” I asked Mikasa, with one eyebrow raised. She shrugged her shoulders, the red scarf making its way off of her neck.

“I’m not sure, all I know is that your guys’ dates match up almost exactly. I figured I’d bring them over here to let you know. I don’t think you guys are all on the same flight though, are you?” Mikasa scanned the room, landing on Connie, his bald head glistening and his long arm raised.

“We aren’t. I think we’re leaving a few days after you and Armin.” Connie said, Sasha and Marco nodding in agreement. “But it’s okay! It’s still going to be awesome fun, as long as we can get away from the conferences.” I laughed and nodded as well. Armin suddenly stood up, twisting his head to the side and smirking.

“So! Who wants to help me at the mall? We need to get Eren some clothing that doesn’t look like it came out of the 80% off bin at Salvation Army.” The group erupted in laugher at my expense and my head rolled back as I sighed. Pretty much everyone yelled in agreement. “Great! I’ll drive.” And so, with that, Armin, Sasha, Connie, Marco, and I were all headed out the door to Armin’s little two door Hyundai. Mikasa and Jean had agreed to either drive separately or stay behind—It was more likely that they would stay behind. I hopped into the car after making sure my friends got into the back, and I slid down into the black bucket seat on the passenger side. I glanced out the window at the big blue house with the freshly manicured yard in the enormous cookie-cutter neighborhood that my mom was _so_ adamant about living in. I smiled in gratitude, once again, as I thought about all the fun adventures we would have in the next few weeks.

_6 hours later, 6 hours until the airport_

I repeated the same desperate pushing that I had performed on my suitcase earlier, attempting CPR on all the bags of clothing that Armin and the gang had picked out for me. We had spent an entire five hours at the mall. Five grueling, sweaty, frustrating, and hungry hours. I had begged for a pretzel, a smoothie, or even one of the sample pieces of orange chicken the Chinese food stalls always had, but Armin and Sasha dragged me onwards to the next store. I genuinely hadn’t even realized that there were so many stores at the mall. I hadn’t been there since my brief relationship with Christa, before she ended up breaking up with me for her girlfriend, Ymir. It was a good thing because I wasn’t really into the opposite sex either. But man, did that girl love to shop. I truly believed that she was the only reason that _some_ of my clothes didn’t look like charity shirts.

After _finally_ shoving the bags into the tiny trunk of Armin’s car, I collapsed into the passenger seat.

“Someone’s tired!” Sasha giggled, holding Connie’s hand. I let out of frustrated breath of air.

“I am, and I’m hungry, and I’m sweaty, and I had to relive the trauma of trying on clothes that I haven’t visited in years.” I rolled my neck towards Armin. He was trying to hold back laughter. “Ar, please take me to McDonalds. Please. Anywhere. The gas station.” I waved my hand in the air and shut my eyes. My stomach made one of the most awful groans the car had ever heard, and Marco burst out laughing.

“Yeah, Armin, I’m starving too.” Sasha said, looking at Armin with puppy dog eyes in the rear-view mirror. Connie shook his head. Sasha was _always_ hungry. “I also don’t care where we go, but—” She started, pursing her lips to the side like she was deep in thought, “The gas station _does_ have those little rotating spring rolls.” Marco and Connie both let out an “Ew!” in unison. To be fair, that sounded pretty good to me. Armin scrunched up his nose at the thought of the spring rolls that had been there since 4AM, honestly more likely to be saved from 4AM the previous morning.

“Fine.” He said, starting up the ignition and blasting the air. We drove in relative silence to the gas station, where Sasha and I ran out of the car at top speed to grab snacks and food. I had stopped stocking the house when I learned that I was leaving. There was no reason to leave food rotting in the fridge, and I didn’t feel like going grocery shopping. Sitting on my ass sounded way more appealing. After a quick check out and a hop in the car, we were all back at my house before we knew it.

Sasha, Connie, and Marco all gave their lasts hugs to us, reminding us that we would see them again in New York in a week or so. Armin and I headed inside, where he proceeded to turn over my suitcase and dump everything out.

“What are you doing?” I yelled, nearly dropping my toothbrush onto my wooden floor. I glanced down at two near piles of clothing. _Ah, it’s the appropriate attire._

“I’m helping.” Armin said, finality in his smooth voice. He rolled my nasty t-shirts and jeans to line the bottom of the suitcase, while carefully placing pressed and folded business wear on top. I wasn’t sure how he had managed to fit all of my new clothes into the suitcase, but whatever he did was much more efficient than my poorly planned wrestling match. I chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Thanks Ar, I don’t know what I’d do without you.” He looked at me with adoration in his sparkly blue eyes.

“No problem Eren, I’m always here to help. It’s the least I can do for you.” He zipped up the suitcase and put it on it’s wheels. We had only a few more hours until we had to head to the airport. I looked around my room.

“Where’s your stuff?” I asked, peering around, looking for a suitcase. Armin gasped.

“It’s at home! I forgot it!” He jumped up to grab his lanyard again. “I gotta run! I’ll be right back. We’re driving to the airport together, right?” He asked, knowing full well that we were. I nodded and smiled.

“Of course, head on out. I’ll see you in a few. I’m driving.” I reminded him, wagging a finger out. “You aren’t paying for a month’s worth of parking at the airport.” He sighed in relief.

“Thanks Eren, you’re a lifesaver.” He turned and left, leaving me in my bedroom all alone. I looked around at the light blue walls and matching white furniture. Save for a computer, my bed, a lamp, and the mirror, my room was relatively bare. I had wanted to decorate more as a teenager, when all teenagers go through that awkward phase of self-discovery, but after mom died, I had given up on the idea. Living at college and renting a house with friends was much easier on the heart. I understood why Mikasa left to live with Jean. At least it looked adult. _Let’s go._

I grabbed my suitcase handle and headed downstairs, bumping the wheels on every stair on the way down. I probably damaged the hardwood, but it was unlikely that anyone would notice. I had just hoped I didn’t bust the wheels on the suitcase. I sat in the living room, scrolling through my phone until I heard Armin come back in through the door.

“Ready to go?” I asked, standing up from the couch and putting my phone in my pocket. I checked for my passport, keys, wallet, and phone. Armin took the hint and did the same, nodding in agreement. “Well then, let’s get this on!” I smiled, as I walked out towards the Volvo sedan my mom used to own. We put our bags in the trunk, and set off for the airport.

_At the airport_

Armin nervously glanced around at the other people at our gate. We had managed to get through security and find seats near where we’d be eventually boarding onto first class. It was only a 6 hour flight to New York, but Armin was picking at his fingernails and biting his lip.

“Ar, it’s gonna be okay.” I said gently, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Seriously, we’ll be there before you know it. Plus,” I said, motioning with my hands, “We’re in first class, so we’ll have the _comfy_ seats and snacks.” I grinned at my best friend, his blue eyes coming to meet mine. He cracked a smile from the side of his lips, and I could feel him drop the tension in his shoulders.

“Thanks. I don’t know why I’m nervous, I’ve traveled before, but this is different.” He trailed off. “I feel like this is going to be way different than engineering camps.” He stared at the white wall in front of us. I patted his back.

“It’s okay. It will be different, but it’ll be fun!” I said, trying to lighten his mood. He bit his bottom lip again.

“Yeah but, like,” He started, moving his stare out the window to look at the airplane waiting for us to board, “We don’t have a chaperone or a real plan. What are we going to do? Where are we going to go? What will we eat?” His comments came out in a rapid-fire exclamation, throwing me off guard.

“Seriously Ar. It’s going to be fine. My dad isn’t going to put us up in some nasty hostel, and he’s got friends in high places.” Armin looked at me, lips curling inwards on each other as he clenched his jaw. “I’m dead serious. It’s going to be fine. My dad said he would pick us up from the airport and give us a loose itinerary—We don’t have to do everything on the list, or we can. He said it’s entirely up to us.” Armin nodded as the flight attendant called those in first class to head up to the boarding zone. I stood up and stretched my long arms above my head, grabbing my leather satchel and sweatshirt. Armin followed suit, holding his light blue Kanken backpack close to his chest. We walked up to the gate and scanned the QR codes on our phone screens.

“Welcome Mr. Jaeger and Mr. Arlert, pleasure to have you on board.” The flight attendant said with a smile. She gestured us to the corridor. I doubled checked our seats and directed Armin towards them. There were two seats in each row, and the first-class area was filled with plush seats and massive amounts of leg room. It wasn’t a long-haul flight, so I knew it wouldn’t have the cool bed seats, but it was still a whole hell of a lot better than whatever wasn’t first-class.

“Window? Or aisle?” I asked Armin, allowing him power of attorney over his seat. He hummed for a second.

“Window, if you don’t mind. We can switch later, but I want to try to sleep before we get there.” I nodded and yawned. We would be getting there in the afternoon, so there was no reason for Armin to sleep, but I had to admit that I was tired too. The shopping wore us out. Armin crawled into the seat and shoved his bag underneath the one in front of him. He pulled out his noise cancelling headphones and smiled at me before putting them on. I smiled back, relaxing into my own seat and grabbing my headphones out of the front pocket of my bag. I shoved it underneath the seat in front of me with a lot more force than Armin had, nearly busting it open in the process. _Next time, gentle._ I reminded myself, as I breathed in a large gulp of air. I closed my eyes and put my headphones in my ears, opening Spotify to see what kind of stuff I had downloaded. Right as I was about to drift off into a glorious pre-flight nap, I felt a finger poke my arm. I groaned and opened my eyes. 

_Holy fuck, goddamn._ I let out an enormous burst of air, making a croaking noise as I looked at the beautiful man in front of my face. His face was round, yet angular. His skin a milky porcelain color. His fingers were long and slender, with trimmed nails. He had the most _beautiful_ and silky looking black hair I had ever seen in my life, complimented by a shaved undercut and what looked like some sort of pattern shaved into the sides and back. His eyes, glossy and steel gray, locked with mine. I felt like a girl living in a host club world, and my mind imagined thousands of roses bursting out around his glowing figure.

“You’re in my seat.” He said, voice deep, yet smooth. His pale pink lips were tightened into an unimpressed line. My thumb had been trying to hit the pause button for at _least_ ten seconds now, but it wouldn’t have worked because my phone screen was locked. My mouth started to open, and my voice had suddenly flown away faster than the plane was about to sail through the air. My entire chest cavity burned, my heartrate so deep and loud that I was absolutely sure the gorgeous raven-haired man could hear it. I secretly hoped that the sound would burn a hole into his own heart and torture him at night. His pink lips parted, and his manicured black eyebrows furrowed. His steel eyes scrunched closed, thick, curly, plush black eyelashes perfectly framing the orbs in his face. Suddenly, the headphones were ripped out of my ears.

“Kid, you’re in my seat. Get the fuck up.” He said, bending down only slightly so he was closer to my face. His breath was hot, and he smelled like menthol cigarettes. My cheeks burned.

“Oh,” I stammered, suddenly looking around at the rest of first class. It had pretty much filled up. “I’m sorry, I think you might be mistaken?” I started, ending the sentence in a question, as his eyes bore holes into my very soul. _No, this is definitely his seat._

“Don’t think so. Go find your parents or something. Your seat is that one.” He pointed one of his perfect fingers towards the seat directly across the aisle, next to a slightly less beautiful, but still beautiful, blond man who looked like the spitting image of Captain America. I peered around at the man. He was large, probably over six feet tall, and wore what I could only imagine was a five-thousand-dollar suit. He was reading some sort of novel with wireless earbuds in.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” I nearly choked on my words as I glanced over what the man in front of me was wearing: a perfectly tailored black suit with a crisp white button down and a light red tie with a knot only a professional could tie. His slacks hugged his muscular legs perfectly, his black dress shoes the exact same texture and shine as his patent leather belt with the sinful silver buckle. I swallowed a huge ball of spit that was forming in the back of my throat. “I feel like you and uh, that dude—” I pointed one of my fingers towards Captain America, feeling self-conscious about how unlike a hand model’s fingers mine looked, “I feel like you and that dude should be sitting together.” I motioned to Armin, who was sleeping against the window. “You guys are dressed alike?” I squeaked, hoping he would turn around so I could see what was happening in the back.

“I know you want to sit with your boyfriend, but I really don’t want to sit by Erwin.” The man sighed, pinching the bridge of his perfectly shaped nose and scrunching his eyes. “He talks. The whole time. I can’t do that today, I have shit to do later, and I can’t suffer through glorified customer service for eight hours tonight if he’s asking me about whatever is new on Amazon Prime.” I could sense the desperation in his voice and felt sweat roll down my armpits onto my ribcage. He wasn’t planning to move until he got what he wanted, and by the way my heart was thumping and my brain was losing blood, I would be willing to give him whatever he wanted.

“Uh, yeah.” I said, grabbing my bag and standing up, slamming my head on the ceiling of the airplane. _You absolute donkey, you knew you were too tall to stand up. _“He’s not my boyfriend.” I squeaked as I pushed past the man, nearly fainting as I felt how hard and toned his body was. I had prayed to whatever entity had given me this magnificent moment that he would not notice that my touch was wholly intentional. I heard him give a non-committal noise as he sat down, waking Armin up.__

____

Armin looked at the man next to him, and he looked at me, and then his eyes widened as they landed on the gorgeous piece of American pride sitting in the seat next to the one I was about to sit in. I shrugged my shoulders.

____

“I’m sorry Ar, he wanted me to move.” I motioned to the black-haired beauty as he put his own wireless earbuds in and closed his eyes while getting comfortable in my prior seat. Armin nodded slowly and I could see his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed whatever frog was stuck in his throat from the sheer glory of Mr. Bootstraps. I turned and gingerly sat down next to the man, noticing that his arms looked like what I would assume Arnold Schwarzenegger’s looked like in a suit. I gulped as he looked over at me with sea-blue eyes, surrounded by soft blonde eyelashes, and roofed by luscious blonde eyebrows.

____

“I’m Erwin.” He said, smiling an award-winning smile as he held out his massive hand for me to shake. My entire body shook to ensure that the arm I outstretched would appear calm as I took his hand. “Why are you sitting here?” He asked, looking around me to the seat-stealer that may have also stolen my heart. _And my dreams._ “Levi!” He called, waving his warms above his head. Mr. Heartbreaker rolled his neck over, glaring through half lidded eyes. I had only felt the wind knocked out of me this hard once before, when I had been shoved off the top of the swing set by Jean in elementary school.

____

“What.” He phrased it as a statement instead of a question, frustration oozing out of his soft lips and into the air around him. _His name is Levi._

____

“Why’d you move? Tired of seeing my face?” Erwin joked, the presence of a smirk appearing on his face as he wiggled his eyebrows. Suddenly, I was awoken from my fantasy trance and was all-too invested on figuring out what their relationship was.

____

“Yes.” Levi replied, still bored, still frustrated. He closed his eyes again. Erwin shrugged his shoulders next to me and settled back into his seat as the flight attendants were coming around for round one. He turned to me, with the same ken-doll smile plastered on his handsome face.

____

“Would you like a drink?”

____

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw, the erwin/eren stuff is very light, as with the erwin/levi stuff, unless you guys let me know that you'd like to see me expand on those. im open to them even if they aren't my otp, and i think it'd be fun to write if you're interested. leave me a comment or a message at my ancient tumblr (crumb961.tumblr.com) if you'd like to give some feedback! ily guys, thanks for the support already <3


	3. Buttons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> eren and erwin express their disdain for one another while eren does double duty to lust over levi. our favorite boys have to suffer through the JFK airport. we meet two titular figures in politics

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im spoiling you guys but tomorrow my classes start up again and i'm not sure if i can finish my contracts work AND dedicate every day to a new chapter. thank labor day for these consistent updates and expect to have 2 a week from now on (yes i know thats a lot to commit to but i have severe difficulty stopping things i start and i am extremely invested in this) (even if it sucks im finishing it no matter what) so just know

“Uh, yeah. Sure.” I replied, heart pounding against my sternum. Erwin chuckled, his blond hair staying perfectly in place, held together by humanity’s strongest hair gel or something. “Can I have a Coke please?” I asked, trying to keep my cool as I smiled at the flight attendant. She smushed up her face in a smile as she handed me a can of Coke. I heard Erwin let out a sharp breath of air, like he was laughing at me. I turned to him. “Is there an issue?” I asked, with just a tiny sliver of frustration. _I haven’t forgotten the way you looked at Levi._

“He’ll have rum in that Coke. And I’ll have a strawberry mimosa, if you have them.” Erwin smiled sweetly at the flight attendant, who had a growing blush across her smooth cheeks. She nodded and sauntered back up to the front of the plane to grab our drinks. I turned to give Erwin a look that crossed between “What the fuck?” and “WHAT the fuck?” with just a sprinkle of “What are you doing?” He smiled again, that goddamn perfect plastic smile, and looked out the window as he responded to me.

“You look like you need a drink.” He turned to me again, his gaze drifting past me to check on the sleeping attraction across the aisle. I moved my head in a vain, and slightly jealous, attempt to keep his focus on me and not on Levi. Again, like I said, low emotional intelligence comes with jealously issues. I guess.

“You don’t even know how old I am?” I questioned, raising one eyebrow, and slowly craning my neck away from him while still looking into his emotionless eyes. “Are you a gambler?” I peeped out, studying his facial features that were tattooed onto his chiseled face.

“Why would you ask those things?” He asked back, his turn to raise an eyebrow. I saw the corner of his darker pink lips raise into a smirk as I opened my mouth to speak, just in time for the flight attendant to bring back the liquid courage.

“Here you go. Rum and Coke, and a strawberry mimosa! Please, feel free to press the attendant button if you need anything.” She said, with emphasis on the _please,_ and coyly winked at Erwin as she smiled.

“Thank you, I will be sure to let you know when I need your services.” He purred out, making the young flight attendant’s cheeks glow red. The poor girl is just trying to do her job, and now Senator Constitution had made her next six hours more difficult. _Or so I thought. I guess she enjoyed that._ Erwin’s voice was deep, but not as smooth as the silk that came out of Levi’s delicate mouth. No, he was assertive and authoritative in the way he spoke, like he was used to giving orders. _And having them followed._ Levi sounded more like a tired stockbroker. Erwin sounded like the President of the United States.

“I ask because one, I don’t think I look very old and you’ve just purchased me alcohol, and two, your face is about as readable as a professional poker player.” I retorted, just a hint of disgust in my voice for how readily and publicly he flirted with the flight attendant. I may have made some questionable romantic decisions in my short lifespan, but I felt like blatant public flirtation was a bit much. Erwin’s smile dropped for a fraction of a second, as I felt the air grow suddenly cold. Within another hundredth of a second, the warmth was returning, as was his smile baring his pearly whites. _He probably has a partnership with some whitening toothpaste._

“Well, one, that doesn’t matter,” he began, the same smirk appearing on his face while my entire intestinal tract began to seize up in an untimely attempt to vomit up the gas station spring roll from hours ago. “And two, no, I’m not.” He said, with a satisfied look on his face. I wanted to punch it. It’s not like it would have done any damage, it would have just been dented inwards like a ken doll. I restrained myself and took a deep breath into my nose, picking up my drink.

“So, what,” I began, sipping on the alcohol that I wasn’t even ID’d for. “You come on planes to flirt with potentially underage men and flight attendants?” Erwin’s eyes went wide in amusement, as he let out a light laugh. “I’m not really sure what else I’m supposed to be seeing here, _Erwin._ ” I said, rolling out his name with the mental image of a snake rolling out its tongue.

The rum burned the back of my throat as it traveled down into my stomach, the Coke barely making it easier to swallow. The plane started to lurch forward. _We’re moving, and I’m stuck next to this guy._ The announcements started right as Erwin had opened his mouth to speak. He shook his head and put a thick, strong finger up to his lips. My left eye twitched. _Gross._

“It’s not all I do, no.” He responded, putting his wireless earbuds back into his ears. I nodded, held back a wet burp that threatened it’s entrance into the world through my mouth and onto the floor, and picked up my own headphones. I started silently praying to whatever entity gave me the glory of viewing Levi to also give me the gift of never speaking to Erwin again for the entirety of the flight. I was absolutely, one hundred percent onto him. I felt gross inside, like someone had stripped me bare in front of the whole university and bent me over. Even that time I begged (performed) for extra credit from one of my professors I hadn’t felt as disgusting as I did in that moment.

Suddenly, I questioned myself. _Am I reading into this too much? Maybe he’s just trying to be friendly._ I hoped to convince myself that he was just another friendly middle-aged man, trying to make me comfortable on a longer flight. _They do that sometimes, right?_ I shook my head to myself. _No, they don’t. And they definitely don’t purchase alcohol for someone who looks like a kid, and then claim, “age doesn’t matter.”_ I rubbed my temples with my left hand while scrolling through my music library with my right thumb. I had a wide variety of music, but I felt like classical was beckoning for me with its smooth instrumentation and intricate composition. The sweet sounds of some college symphony orchestra blanketed my ears and filled my head with positive emotions as I closed my eyes. Sipping at my drink, I positioned my head in such a way that it looked like I was sleeping, but I could still sneak peeks at Levi’s Louvre-worthy physical form.

_Two hours later into the flight_

_Well shit._ I woke up, blinking rapidly at the assault of dry, recycled plane air on my delicate eyeballs. I felt a familiar pressure on my abdomen. _Time to piss._ I nervously looked over to see Erwin sleeping against the window, much to my relief. I let out that customary nervous breath of air and unbuckled my seatbelt as quietly as humanly possible. Unfortunately, I forgot a _second_ time that I was just a bit too tall to immediately stand up on the plane and smacked the top of my head on the protruding ceiling. “Shit!” I hissed, holding my head. Half of first class startled awake to observe me rubbing the crown of my head. _Fuck_. I nervously laughed and slid down the skinny hallway between rows of seats to the toilet.

Plane bathrooms, as most people know, are disgusting. They are also small and uncomfortable. I stood and peed, glancing around the tiny closet they deemed the lavatory, taking in all the details of the “calming” purple lights and lightly patterned walls. After finishing up my business, flushing the toilet, and washing my hands, I aggressively opened the door. _They always get stuck._ I nearly fell out, stumbling and running into a familiar feeling of dense physical condition. _Fuck!_

Every synapse in my brain was quickly burning itself like the wick on a firecracker. Every platelet rushed out of my head and spread from the ribs downwards. I felt my stomach jump into my throat, filled with cheap airplane rum and Coca-Cola as I looked down at the man I had run into. _I am literally, and I mean seriously this time, going to throw myself out of the plane._

“Watch where you’re going.” Levi said, dismissively waving me off and stepping around me to head into the lavatory. I stood there like a damn fool, mouth agape, eyes wide, unmoving as I watched with laser focus as the lock flipped to “occupied.”

“S-sorry…” I muttered to the disappearing man, turning around, embarrassed out of my mind. _Oh, great. Awesome_. I thought sarcastically as I realized, with much horror, that Erwin had woken up again and was looking around the plane. His eyes caught mine and I felt those synapses combusting again, but this time from disgust rather than arousal. I dredged my feet through an imaginary swamp as I made my way back to my seat, cursing the cruel fate under my breath. Armin was also awake and gave me a concerned glance. I shrugged and rolled my eyes in the same gesture, and Armin let out a small giggle. I slid into the seat, now cold from the lack of my own body heat. Erwin turned to me.

“Welcome back, I was afraid that you got held up in there.” I scanned his face for any, and I mean _any_ indication of what that ten-word statement meant. I raised and eyebrow and nodded, slowly looking straight forward at the seat in front of me. I hadn’t realized how bad my hands were shaking until I tried to pick up my phone, dropping it twice in the process. Of course, this elicited a hearty laugh from both Armin and Steve Roger’s doppelganger. I internally groaned and stuck the headphones into my ears again, this time opting for a louder playlist of aggressive and angry indie music. I had never quite gotten completely out of my emo phase, but then again, who hadn’t in this day and age? I repeated the same actions from earlier, closing my eyes and letting my brain lobes decode the musical script coming in through my eardrums.

_Approximately four hours later_

I opened my eyes to the sudden movement of the wheels hitting the pavement. As customary of Americans, I could hear the cacophony of seat belts unbuckling prematurely and bags being taken from out underneath their resting spots. I let out a small yawn and a stretch, pausing the music that was still playing. I looked over to see Armin packing up shop as well. Of course, my breath hitched into my throat as I observed Levi lifting out his beautiful briefcase and placing his shiny black phone into the front pocket, tucking away his wireless earbuds right next to it. It seemed like Erwin had already packed up and had cleaned up the minimal mess we had, which consisted of two glasses. He was looking out the window. _Good._ I hoped I had scared him off. I wasn’t opposed to calling the cops if he tried anything on me.

 _Hypocrite._ I sneered at myself mentally, as I looked over at the strong jawline and the smooth neck holding up Levi’s head. No, I didn’t know how old he was. No, I didn’t care. I guess I always was more into Loki anyway.

“Are you done?” I shook my head as I realized that Levi had gotten up and was directing his statement towards me. Was I staring? _Oh well._ I laughed nervously.

“Yeah, just still a little sleepy.” I sheepishly said, paying extra special attention to save my head from another nervousness induced concussion as I stood. “You go.” I motioned to Levi. Have you ever seen a stack of printer paper? That was how blank the expression he gave me was.

“No.” He replied, face still unimpressed. I lowered my eyebrows.

“I _insist._ ” I said more aggressively, motioning once again for him to walk in front of me. I was _not_ going to miss a chance to see what type of buttons were on the back pockets of those dress pants. He looked at me again, shaking his head. I stood there, staring into his steely eyes, watching as his brow slowly furrowed and his jaw clenched. He squinted his eyes shut, looking like he was in the most pain he had ever been put through from an inconvenience, and moved out in front of me. I internally smiled, and of course, took the liberty of making sure his back pockets were properly buttoned.

 _Good lord._ I was almost convinced the devil had prepared those pants himself. _That’s it, I’m going to hell._ I felt every sinful thought I had ever considered resurface in my brain as I watched his hips sway down the aisle in front of me. It was absolutely blatantly obvious, and I would have been shocked if Levi were ignorant to my reasons of having him walk first. By the way he was swinging his hips, either he was a consistent sexy walker, or he knew exactly what he was doing. _Both? Both is good._

I traveled down the corridor, following Levi, with Armin not far behind. Like Déjà vu, I slammed into the man in front of me as I was mentally lost in a lustful fantasy world of tailored dress pants being torn off and ties being used as restraints. I felt him stop, and slowly turn to face me as we were out of the corridor and back in the airport. Of course, we were in JFK, which had a giant open circle of a concourse, so everyone there was able to get a free show of the stare down. Levi looked at my eyes, and then looked me up and down, his expression unchanging. He made a light click of his tongue, and turned around again, this time with even more sway in his step. _That’s it, that’s it officer, right there. Illegal._

“Eren, are you good?” Armin asked, putting a soft and cold hand on the back of my bicep. I shuddered at the sudden touch from my friend. I turned to him, eyes wide and pupils dilated. His blue eyes widened beyond what should have been human capacity. “Oh no, Eren. You can’t. You _can’t._ ” Armin said, warning thick in his voice. The corner of my mouth raised into a smirk. “Eren! No!” Armin said, waving his hands. “Earth to Eren! Absolutely not.”

I let my head go loose and bobbed it around on my neck like a bobbled head. “Why not?” I asked, half looking for permission, half looking for an explanation. Armin sighed and took my hand, pulling me through the bustling concourse hallways towards the big bright black and white sign that told us where our luggage would be. I followed along with him, opting to skip the moving sidewalks. He was playing a game of “weave through traffic” with me as a loosely attached trailer.

“Can we slow down?” I asked, out of breath and with a slight headache. _I hate flying._ I caught a good breath of air as Armin turned around to face me.

“Not until you promise not to fuck him.” He said, point blank, looking me in the eyes with a serious expression I had only seen once before when he was trying to convince me not to cheat on an exam. Unfortunately, that face hadn’t worked then, and it sure as hell wouldn’t work now. I deflected the question by putting on a surprised yet amused face.

“Well, that’s a bit forward, isn’t it Ar? What gave you that impression?” I nervously shoved my hands into my pants pockets, twiddling my fingers within the confines of the jean fabric. _He knew._

“I’m not stupid.” He said, crossing his arms and jutting out a foot in an attempt to look authoritative. “I saw you staring at him. I heard you bump your head _twice._ You basically shoved him in front of you on the plane so you could—and very obviously may I say—stare at his ass. I don’t care how round, how plump, how many quarters you could bounce off it. You _can’t.”_ My eyes were strained from rolling so much already today, so I opted to cross my own arms and lower my eyelids and my chin to look at my best friend through half open eyes. He had pulled his blond hair into a bun, and was wearing a sweatshirt that I had given him a few years back in college. He had dark circles under his big blue eyes, and looked absolutely exhausted, with both the travel and my attitude.

“Let’s make a deal.” I said, lifting my chin to the ceiling as I thought about a proper course of action that would satisfy both Armin and myself. He was smart. Armin saw the world as a giant game of chess, and he was consistently three or four steps ahead of everyone else. Outsmarting him was impossible, I decided, so I opted instead to try to compromise. “Here. I won’t _try._ But, if it happens by some sublime twist of fate and or luck, I’m allowed to go for it.” Armin hummed. _Please._

“I don’t know.” He said, beginning to turn and walk towards the baggage claim again. I followed behind him. “I just don’t know. I guess he might be just connecting here and flying away again.” Armin was reasoning out loud, complete with anxious hand gestures. He sighed. “I guess. I’m fairly confident that we won’t see him again.” I smiled and nodded.

“Deal?”

“Deal. But don’t disappoint me!” Armin said, walking backwards to look at me and the sea of travelers behind me while giving me finger guns. JFK airport was kind of gross, I wasn’t going to lie. The ceiling had a lot of exposed pipes, and the tile floor was scuffed from the thousands of footsteps that crossed over them. There was some public art here and there, but it smelled kind of like rancid eggs, so any pleasure derived from the paintings was muted by the assault on the nostrils. We continued walking, observing our surroundings, and hopped on the escalator going towards the basement where our luggage would be shat out onto a belt.

I quietly hummed a portion of one of my angsty indie songs to keep my brain occupied. I wasn’t _trying_ to think of Levi. I really wasn’t. If he happened to pop into the folds of my brain, however, I guess it wouldn’t be so bad. Armin hopped off and searched for our flight on the screen that showed where our plane was excreting luggage. We walked over to the belt, and Armin crossed his arms to look at me.

“I’m serious.” He said, again.

“I am too.” I answered, again. I pulled out my phone to dissuade him from telling me anything else about how my decisions were stupid. I scrolled through the contacts and dialed “Grisha.” He picked up on the second ring.

“Hey Eren! I’m outside in the car whenever you guys are ready, outside of the A section. Car is a red BMW sedan. How was the flight?” He asked, amusement in his voice. He sounded… excited?

“Cool. It was good! A little long, but I slept through most of it, so that was good. Some guy took my seat though, so I sat next to a stranger. It wasn’t that bad though.” _Lie._

“Glad you and Armin made it safe. Hey, I have another call, text me when you guys are out!” He hung up the phone. _Maybe he wasn’t excited._ In the span of my 45 second phone call with my dad, Armin had picked out our suitcases and was walking towards the door. I jogged after him, dodging a lady with like five tiny dogs on a leash. _New York._

We made it outside and set out looking through the ocean of cars for my dad. I sent him a quick text. He said it was a red BMW, but of course, there was more BMW's in the small stretch of road here than in half the dealerships in my home state. Armin groaned.

“What is he driving?”

“Red BMW.” I watched Armin squint to look for cars. Suddenly, a car matching that same description pulled up, with a very excited looking man in the driver’s seat. _Okay, no, he is excited?_

“Eren! Armin! I’m so glad you guys made it safe. Here, I’m going to help you with the luggage.” He popped the trunk from the driver’s side and stood up outside of the car, his small, wire rimmed glasses reflecting the fluorescent lights above him. He looked like me, a bit above average height, olivey skin, green eyes, and shoulder length brown hair that would never be tamed, no matter how much gel was combed through it. He had grown a bit of facial hair and had adorned some expensive looking business casual. Armin hopped into the back seat, claiming that he had already gotten the luggage off of the belt.

My dad and I had just closed the trunk of the suitcase when I turned around to take a look at the airport before we left. As I scanned the crowd, my entire world slowed down to a halt as I saw those steel colored eyes and that pretty face scowling at me. I gulped and fiddled with my hands in my pockets again, as I tried to give a casual, but kind smile. It most likely looked like I was constipated, but hey, I tried.

“Oh hey Levi!” I turned around quickly enough to give myself whiplash, the passing of time beginning again, my world suddenly hurling forward at the speed of sound. I got that familiar cold feeling right underneath my sternum, the knowledge of what my dad had just said throwing me into the pits of anxiety. _What?_

He waved. _HE WAVED._

“Hey Grisha.” He took a drag from his cigarette, still standing fairly far away from us, but yet his voice pierced through the noises of the airport with lossless quality.

“Ready for this week? It’s gonna be killer.” Grisha chuckled, patting the trunk of the car, and giving me a slap on the shoulder.

“Absolutely not. I can’t stand these things. Thank Christ they have drinks and comfortable chairs.” He put out his cigarette in the ash tray on top of the trash can.

“It’ll be fun. You never know who’ll show up.” Grisha waved and turned around to head back to the driver’s seat. Once again, my armpits decided to unleash Niagara falls onto my sides as I stared at Levi from 20 feet away. I turned around to walk to the passenger side door, my knees seemingly failing and morphing into jello. I needed Armin to use his degree to design me some anxiety proof knee joints to replace my failing current ones. I opened the door with shaking hands, and slowly sat down into the seat, my entire body vibrating.

“Do you…. Know him dad?” I asked, all of the color in my face disappearing as my dad put the car in drive. He nodded without looking at me.

“Yeah, he works with me, but is higher ranking.”

I nodded very slowly, as I glanced out the window, knowing full well who’s eyes were waiting for me on the other side of the tinted glass. As my dad toed the accelerator, my eyes caught the same ones they had earlier. And if I hadn’t been staring so goddamn intensely with every cone and rod located in my eyeballs, I would have missed the microscopic smirk on his face and the very slightest eyebrow raise. I felt like I was going to shit myself. There was no way this was happening. I looked into the right hand rear view mirror to see Armin just as pale as I was, biting his bottom lip so hard it looked like he was about to break the delicate skin. I looked at my own self, with a wild look in my eyes like I had just done four lines of coke and the life draining from my cheeks.

“You okay?” Grisha asked, turning to face me. “You don’t look so good, do you need me to stop somewhere?” He asked, concern lining his voice. He glanced back into the rear view mirror to monitor Armin. “You too? Are you guys okay? Was the plane food bad?” He looked between me and into the rear-view mirror to look at Armin with that “concerned parent” look.

“Yeah, we’re fine.” Armin squeaked out, his normally quiet voice even quieter. Grisha had a confused and concerned look on his face as he turned to me and then turned around to Armin.

“You sure?” He asked, slowing down for a red light before making the beeline for the highway before traffic got too bad. Armin nodded. I nodded. “Okay, well, let me know if you guys need to take a rest somewhere. We’re only about an hour from the hotel.” He gave one more confirmatory glance at Armin and I before he continued looking straight ahead to drive.

I had the thousand-yard stare in my eyes. My brain was television static. I felt like every nerve in my body had died and could never regenerate. I wanted to put my head in my hands and scream, but my dad would have _most definitely_ known something was wrong. I was having one of the most intense inner battles of my short life in the passenger seat of his rental car. I was on my way to New York City, with my best friend, my influential dad, and _my dad’s work friends._ I stifled a groan with a big swallow. My head started to spin as it started to dawn on me. I was a diplomat’s son, and I was about to cause an international incident.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i said it was a slow burn but just know that eren won't be disappointing armin in the next chapter and i wont be disappointing you <3 you will probably have to wait until tomorrow for chapter four though. leave a message if you enjoyed, feedback is what my heart and brain functions on 
> 
> crumb961.tumblr.com if you're interested in sending me a message
> 
> ily


	4. Pressing the button won't make the elevator come quicker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> both pairs of our favorite boys have heart to hearts. our favorite couple ends up using the elevator for some "business information." we have a levi POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you guys got it, you know the drill. chapter is long as HELL but i think it's worth it. im spoiling you again, i guess i had more time than i thought lol
> 
> please enjoy the pov switch and lore <3

The rest of the car ride home was a blur of silence and holding back tears. Nobody talked—not my dad, not Armin, not me. Dad definitely knew something was up during the ride but neglected to inquire when he saw how distraught Ar and I were. _Am I calling him dad now? Has he earned that title?_ He _had_ picked us up and had been kind to us. _Is kindness how low the bar is for a good father figure?_ I spent the hour and a half long ride staring longingly out the window, trying to justify my desires to myself. It wasn’t working, and it ended in me trying to reabsorb the tears catching underneath my eyes before anyone could see.

The issue wasn’t whether or not I wanted to fuck Levi. I did. I knew I did, and honestly, Levi probably knew too. I had no shame, I’ve done worse. No, the issue was deeper than that, and dragged me down a mess of convolutions and intertwining neurons. To put it in the simplest terms possible, I felt like fucking Levi would destroy my dad. Even though we had a rocky past, my constant need for approval had won me over. If he ever knew, or found out, his entire career could be over in an instant depending on who the information came from. His 21-year-old son having sexual relations with a thirty-some year old diplomat? _Yeah._ That’s not a good look for him. I wouldn’t be lying when I said I was also highly concerned for Levi as well.

Their coworkers would talk. Word would spread around that Levi liked fresh ass, and that my dad was a horrible father for letting this son get involved with older, influential men. It was fairly obvious to me that this was nothing more than a power play on Levi’s part—that had been all too apparent during my skin-crawling conversation with Erwin on the plane. This wasn’t romance, this was submission. This was an attempt for both older men to weave some more unsuspecting pawns into their web of authority. I closed my eyes and sighed. Unfortunately, my desires hadn’t be quashed, and no matter how many times I tried to deny myself the fantasy of being fucked on some desk in some consulate, it kept coming back, faster and harder every time.

“We’re here.” My dad said, slowly looking back to see if Armin and I had keeled over on the ride to the hotel. Luckily for him, we were both very much alive, but our hearts were dead on arrival. Armin looked up and nodded.

“Awesome.”

“Alright boys, will you do me a favor and grab the suitcases? I need to go to a meeting. If you go to the front desk, they’ll have your room information for you.” Grisha waved to us with a smile as we exited the car, pulling our suitcases behind us. Armin let out a very gentle,

“Wow.”

And he was right. I focused my green irises on the massive hotel standing in front of us. White marble steps were contained by gold railings, with a circular door in the middle of a glass panel that led into the lobby. Even though we were close to Times Square and located smack dab in the middle of the city center, there were topiary trees lining the staircase and flowerbeds planted with whichever popped up in the spring. The bellmen, stood outside the hotel entrance, nodding as Armin and I slowly walked through the doors like we were two kids entering candy land. _Whew._ I let out a breath of air.

The lobby was enormous. The building looked huge from the outside, but that hadn’t prepared me for the sky-high ceilings, beautiful white marble and gold interior, imported rugs, comfortable and expensive designer furniture, and staff dressed in matching, perfectly pressed uniforms. To the right of the door was the check in desk, a long stretch of “floating” marble and wood that held computers behind a small shelf. There were four employees working it, giving customers their most genuine smiles as they handed them their room key cards. To the left of the door was the hotel restaurant/bar combo, where businesspeople sat to drink, to eat, and to meet. The bar was impressive, with more types of fancy alcohol than I had ever heard of in my life. The glasses were impeccably clear, and all the bartenders looked like they had years of experience. The customers were all dressed nicely. They either wore more formal business casual, like button downs and slacks with no coat or tie, or formal business wear, like three-piece suits. Everyone looked perfect. Everyone looked expensive.

“Holy shit Eren, this is…” Armin began, voice catching in his throat. “This is incredible!” His big blue eyes shone like the sun hitting the calm ocean. He twirled himself around in an attempt to soak up every sight available to his mortal self. His eyes closed and scrunched upwards as he smiled. I could tell that he was already having the time of his life. A smile crept up on my own face. I was proud to call him my best friend. He was always so full of wonder, yet he was so intelligent that the innocence seemed like an escape from the confines of his computational conscious. I patted the handle of the suitcase to grab his attention.

“Let’s go check in, shall we?” I asked, cocking my head slightly with a lopsided smile. I reached for Armin’s hand. He immediately latched on and nodded. We started towards the desk, eyes wide and heads turning as we continued to observe our surroundings. And for a while, it seemed like everything was okay. All of our woes were forgotten, the beautiful airplane men were a thing of the past, and all that existed was Armin and I in this colossal hotel in the middle of New York City.

We reached the desk, where I walked up to one of the staff members.

“How can I help you today?” She asked, smiling, and typing into the computer in front of her. I pursed my lips for a second, realizing that I forgot to ask my dad who’s name the room was under.

“Hey, my dad made me and my friend a reservation, and I’m not quite sure if he gave his name or ours. His name is Grisha Jaeger, and my name is Eren Jaeger. This is Armin Arlert.” I gestured to Armin and his mouth curled up into a little smile as he held up a hand to wave. The hostess waved back.

“Alright Mr. Jaeger, let’s see what we have for you in here.” She nodded, eyes scanning for an indication of our assigned rooms. “Aha!” She said with excitement. “You guys are going to be on the 10th floor, room 1007. It’s a fairly large suite with two queen size beds, a living area, a kitchenette, and two bathrooms—a half bath near the door and a full near where the beds are located. Your view will be overlooking Times Square.” She smiled. “You are two very lucky men. This is a hard room to get.” She then held out our room key cards with freshly manicured fingers. I took them.

“Thank you!” I exclaimed, smiling back as I reached to hand Armin one of the keys.

“The elevators are on the right, just past the desk. We also have an elevator located further back in the hotel on the left. The left elevator will service conference rooms and the 15th floor.”

“Cool. Thank you for the information!” I replied, watching her smile and wave us off. My cheeks were sore from all of the smiling I had done today. Armin and I leisurely ambled to the elevators. The gold double doors opened wide to reveal a mirrored interior with that same white marble flooring as the rest of the hotel lobby. There were 16 buttons on the control panel, floors one through fifteen, and then a lobby button. Armin excitedly punched in the 10th floor button with a slim finger and giggled.

“This is really happening!” He said. The statement was originally meant to be excited, but the minute the last syllable fell out of his mouth, both of our faces decided to release any blood left in them as we remembered the earlier events. I looked at him with sad eyes and a small frown, and he looked at me with apologetic eyes and a matching frown. We rode the rest of the way up in the elevator in silence, reminiscent of the car ride we had just suffered through. We were mute as we walked to the room, only gasping when we saw just how beautiful the room was.

It was large, like the hostess had said, with golden-beige walls and gold leaf accents and art littered around the room. The bathroom was to the right of the door, and was a calming and sophisticated blue color, with matching towels and blue paintings. To the left of the door was the kitchenette. It contained stainless steel mini-appliances, granite countertops, and white cabinets with gold fixtures. There was a two-person table sitting in front of the wall of appliances and counter space, highlighting the open floorplan of the suite. There were two couches, both white with gold and white pillows, a white coffee table, a giant flatscreen mounted to the wall, and a mini-bar on the wall to the right of the TV, in front of the box where the half-bath stood.

We turned to the beds, two queen size beds with fresh white comforters and gold accent pillows. The headboards were gold as well, shiny, and had molded 3D gold flowers attached. In unison, we walked to check out the full bathroom, where Armin let out a squeak and I had to cough to keep myself from choking.

Have you ever seen one of those bathrooms in the “most luxurious bathrooms” compilations? If so, the bathroom looked like one of those. State of the art fixtures lined the double sinks, with one of those expensive mirrors with the lights that illuminated your face just right so that you didn’t wake up and immediately curse your deficient skincare routine. The countertops were white granite, the tiles the same as the ones in the lobby and elevator. The sinks were held up by shiny golden legs, with space underneath for fluffy white towels and toiletries. Across from the sinks was a shower built for two people. Natural tile covered the walls and floor, with two cubbies for shampoos and a bench on either side of the shower. Behind the frosted glass door, there were two waterfall showerheads and dozens of jets on the walls for maximum rinsing. Next to the shower was a claw foot tub, white with gold accents, and next to that was a small room which held the toilet.

Armin and I abandoned our suitcases at the front door and sat down, Armin on the edge of the bed and I on the floor in front of him. He rested his elbows on top of his knees and rested his chin on his intertwined hands. I sat with my legs crossed, my elbows also on top of my knees, but with both hands covering my eyes in shame and frustration.

“Eren…” I groaned and opened up my fingers to reveal two slits for my eyes to peek through at my friend, who was clearly going through the same internal biological weapon attack. He adjusted his attention towards me and raised his eyebrows, letting out a soft sigh. “What now?”

I groaned again, closed my fingers, and dragged my hands down my face, holding onto the bags under my eyeballs as I pulled my cheeks down. I released and put my hands out behind me, so that I could direct my chin to the ceiling as I stared at the suddenly all too interesting popcorn ceiling. _What now? I don’t know._

“I don’t know.” I replied lamely, coming back to reality, and focused my gaze towards Amin to hold eye contact. “I don’t know.” I repeated, my body starting to shake.   
Armin looked at me with either contempt or pity—either one would have been appropriate given the situation we were stuck in.

“You can end this right now and save us both the anxiety if you mark him as off-limits.” Armin said, removing his head from his chin and shifting so his right ankle rested on his left knee. He put a hand to his chin like he was thinking. “I have a feeling you don’t want to do that though.” He finished, never letting go of the intense staring match we had inevitably started. I stretched my lips into a thin line, with the corners turning downwards.

He was right. Armin was _always_ right. So why was it so hard to let this go?

“I don’t know why I want this so badly,” I began, squirming around on my butt so that both legs were stretched out in front of me. “I don’t know why this matters so much to me. I mean,” I laughed, “It’s not like its been forever since I’ve gotten laid. Something about him, something about what’s hiding behind those eyes keeps sending my heart messages, and it’s like I’m not allowed to read them.” I finished, looking at the floor and letting out a sigh. “It feels _different_ Ar, it feels weird.” Armin nodded, looking suspiciously like my old therapist.

“I know you want approval, and I know you have a thing for older guys.” Armin said, blankly. I nodded, not even attempting to argue. “Just… just think of the consequences for everyone if anyone found out. There would be hell to pay on all fronts. You don’t even know who or which office he works for, there could be a chance that being involved with him could cost your dad his career. You could ruin your own reputation by being known as the kid who fucked some ambassador.” _I wouldn’t mind that._ I internally slapped myself. _You goddamn pervert._

“No, Ar, you’re right.” I said, standing up. “Look, how about we take some time to push this to the back of our minds. I’m hungry, and I think I saw a sandwich shop across from the hotel. It would be cool to go out to eat.” Armin nodded, a smile creeping on his face again, the color returning to his cheeks. I offered a hand and pulled him up.

“Sounds good. I’m sorry, by the way,” He started, looking at the ground. “I respect your choices and I know you’re old enough to decide for yourself. But, you’re my best friend, and I worry that sometimes you don’t fully think through all the ramifications of your actions. If you really want to see if you can have Levi, you might as well. You rarely get busted, so I’m sure you’ll figure something out.” He blushed and continued to stare at the floor. _What? Why? What’s with the sudden change in… oh._

“You!!! You like Erwin!!” I yelled, eyes shooting wide open as I jumped up and down and pointed to my tomato-red friend. His head lowered even further. “I don’t even want to hear it then. First one to fuck gets a free sandwich.” I teased, grabbing my wallet and shoving my key into one of the card pockets. I heard Armin choke behind me as he let out a little laugh.

“Sounds like a bet.” He replied, finally matching my stare. I smirked.

“Sounds like a deal.”

_Levi_

I shuffled my body out of Erwin’s rental car as we rolled up to the same swanky hotel we always stayed in for these conferences. _God, I’m old._ I rubbed my knees. We were here on business. Every year, the colleges worldwide held a Model United Nations conference here in New York, and then the delegations with the most awards would move on to the next conference in DC. Wash, rinse, repeat until they made it to Paris. I yawned as I grabbed my suitcase out of the trunk and attempted as little eye contact with Erwin as possible.

We walked into the hotel lobby, which looked the same as it had always looked for the last 10 years, and I watched as Erwin made the hostess blush while getting our keys. My tired gray eyes rolled back into my head as I crossed my arms.

“Let’s go, I’m tired.”

“Alright Levi, let’s calm down. I’m coming.” Erwin replied, holding up a hand to me like I was a child. He made the hostess laugh and turned around, holding up two key cards, grinning like he had won a goddamm award or something. As we walked towards the elevator, I thought I noticed a familiar brown mop of hair in the crowd. Unfortunately for me, I was just a bit less than average height, and failed to see over the crowd. Even worse, turns out Erwin could see with his mammoth height.

“I think that’s the kid.” He said, looking at me, and then looking out into the crowd again. “Oh shit, he saw me.” Erwin said, suddenly whispering and turning to jab his finger into the up button again.

“You’re going to break it.” I said, looking at my fingernails. “Who cares? He’s going to be busy with his dad.” That was a lie. I cared. I cared immensely, because all I could think about were those green eyes, pupils dilated, lusting up at me with those moisturized pink lips wrapped around my cock.

“You care.” Erwin said, turning to face me. “You haven’t talked this whole time. You only do that when you see a person of interest.” _Fuck._

“Go fuck yourself Erwin, you won’t be earning any flattery from me.” I walked into the elevator as the doors chimed and opened for us. “It’s _fine._ I don’t want him.” I did.

“What if _I_ did?” He asked, looking at me. My entire core melted like an iron ore in a furnace as I did my best to show absolutely zero outside indication of any fucks given. It must not have worked, because Erwin smirked. “I’m joking. I can tell you’ve already claimed him. It’s okay, the blonde is more my type.” I wasn’t going to win this one, but then again, when did I ever win against Erwin?

“Captain America needs the next generation huh? Getting too old for the shield?” I snorted, checking my watch for the time. _5PM._ Erwin laughed.

“Sure Levi, sure.” He said, as the elevator dinged to let us know we had reached our floor. They had set us up in the same room we were always in on the 15th floor, number 1560. My legs had already memorized the way there. I walked on autopilot, trying desperately to figure out a way to make my plan work. Erwin went ahead and opened the door, motioning me in.

“After you, princess.” I rolled my eyes and kicked his shin on the way in. I immediately claimed the desk on the left of the enormous room. The right one was always Erwin’s. As far as I knew, this suite was about the same as the other ones in the hotel, but with the addition of two desks and an extra sitting area. We had two queen beds. _Thank God._

He sat down in the chair across from me, his eyes following me as I used my legs to rotate the desk chair from left to right. I had picked up a pen in the three minutes I had been in the room and was lightly chewing on the end of it. _I hate this._

“So.” Erwin spoke up, “We need to talk.” I nodded, my eyes looking at the patterns of wood on the desk instead of looking up at the larger man in front of me.

“What’s there to talk about?” I asked blankly. My wants and desires had nothing to do with him. I twirled a bit of my smooth hair in my fingers, looking at the shiny black strands in between my fingers.

“Well, I saw you looking at that kid. You saw me looking at the other kid. I think we need to discuss the logistics of how this is going to work.” I continued to rotate my chair and began to rapidly click the pen with my thumb. “Ignoring this isn’t going to make it go away, Levi.” He said gently, with an air of concern in his commanding voice. _Faking it. He’s faking it._

I let out a sigh and dropped my feet to the floor. “I’m not sure what you want me to say.”

“I want you to tell me what you want.” My eyebrows raised at his bold statement. He said it knowing full well that I would put up a fight to tell him. But in this moment, it wasn’t a conscious fight.

I genuinely had no idea what I was feeling inside. My emotions, whatever little I had, were rolling around in my abdomen like a ship at sea in a storm. The last time I had felt like this it had been the biggest mistake of my life. Except, I was in the kid’s position and Erwin was in mine.

“I guess,” I began, as I slumped down in the chair, intertwining my fingers and placing my hands on my chest, “I guess we’ll both have to pull what you did.”

“What I did?” Erwin asked, venom slipping out from underneath the disguise of concern.

“Yes.” I said, deciding to stick my legs back up on the desk again. “We’ll both have to pull it off this time.” Erwin nodded as he looked at me expectantly, knowing that this entire situation couldn’t resolve itself until I gave explicit confirmation and acknowledgement of what we were going to do. Confirmation of the repeat of the stunt he performed about ten years ago.

“I guess it’s time for new personal assistants.” I breathed out. Erwin’s sly smile returned as he heard me say the words, my chin moving downwards, but my eyes still staring into Erwin’s soul.

“I guess so.” He replied, lifting himself out of the chair and coming towards the desk. I scooted the chair back on its wheels. “It never changes, Levi.” He said, placing his hands on the side of the desk near my shoes and spreading his fingers wide on the wood. “Just like I was used, you were used, and now both of these kids are going to be used.”

“Is there another way?” I asked half assedly, knowing that there wasn’t any other way without compromising our careers and putting Grisha’s career in the shitter as well. “It’s just shitty.” I said, slowly running my right hand’s thumb fingernail under the fingernails on my left hand. Erwin sighed.

“It may be shitty, but it gave us careers, and it might be good for theirs as well. This is a service.” He assured. I knew that he was trying to convince himself about as much as he was trying to convince me. He turned to look out the window. “After all, it’s about power. And right now, neither of us have a subordinate. We can’t continue trying to dominate the other, it’s hurting our work performance.” _It wasn’t exactly like that, at least not now._

“That was a while ago. The only thing I’m currently trying to one up you in is work related matters. You know, politics and international issues and shit that actually matters. I know _you_ have time to go around, fucking whatever piece of fresh meat you picked up at a conference, but I want to focus on my own life. You don’t own me. I have my own paycheck now and it’s no longer signed by “Mr. Erwin Smith.” I put my legs back down on the floor as I stood up. Erwin chuckled, low and deep.

“Like I said, it’s about power. You’ve never had it before. You won’t want to lose it once you gain it. And unfortunately for you, you aren’t in a noble career, Levi. You picked one of the most self-serving and hedonistic jobs on Earth.” I rolled my eyes, my thick eyelashes clouding just a bit of my view.

“Trust me,” He continued, “You don’t know what you don’t have right now. You don’t want to hurt him?” He asked, looking me up and down. “Then you can’t have him at all.”

“Uh huh.” I grunted, grabbing my coat, and heading out the door. “I’m going to take a shit in the lobby bathroom.” I was again, like on the plane, not in the mood to talk to Erwin before the pre-conference announcements were made in front of hundreds of little shitheads from college. I wasn’t going to waste my thirty minutes of freedom talking to him anymore.

I yanked open the door and heard the heavy weight slam behind me against the doorframe as I walked out. I pulled out my phone to check on the thousands of unread emails I had for details about tonight. I jabbed the down button with my hip, standing in front of the elevator as I listened for the telltale dings that it was raising to my floor.

_Ding_.

“Finally.” I muttered under my breath as I started to walk into the open doors. “Oh, what the fuck?” I asked out loud, as I brought my eyes up to look at the nervous looking kid in front of me.

“H-hey Levi?” He croaked out, his voice cracking during both words. Was it a question? Was it a command? Suddenly, I felt dirty and Erwin’s warning swam around in my thoughts, floating to the surface.

“Is that a question, Mr. Jaeger?” I asked, rolling the “J” as I looked into his eyes. I enjoyed flustering him already. I watched his eyes grow wider and his cheeks turn just a bit red.

“N-no sir. I wanted to see my dad; I think… I think he lives up here?” He replied, nervously shifting.

“And what if he doesn’t?” I replied semi-sarcastically, stepping closer to the taller boy. He moved one step back. I moved another step forward. “Scared?” I asked, cocking my head, and raising an eyebrow. He shook his head. “Why are you moving backwards?”

“Uh, I’m giving you… more room?”

“You need to stop with the questions.”

“O-okay.” I heard the doors close behind me.

In one swift movement, and in a momentary lapse of conscious decision making, I grabbed the front of his shirt and pushed him against the wall, pinning him against the side of the elevator. _Fuck Erwin. He’s wrong._ I could feel the elevator moving downwards as I pushed my face as close to the kid’s as I could. His tan skin was flushing, and I could tell that his heart was about to beat out of his chest. I slowly looked up into his terrified green eyes, pupils slowly dilating to let the in the entire sight of my face in front of his.

“If he’s not up here, you know where I am.” I whispered, focusing the majority of my breath onto his ear and neck. I heard him gulp. _Oh God. What am I doing?_

“F-for what?” He asked. What an idiot. It’s too bad that for some reason, I had made the executive decision to be attracted to idiot college grads. I rolled my eyes. _You can stop now, if you stop now he won’t be hurt._

“For this.” I pulled him downwards, to match my height, as I pressed my lips onto his. He let out a yelp and tried to pull back, but I kitted my hands through his hair and pulled him closer to me, my leg sliding in between his to hold him in place. He gave in, and his hands made their way around my neck, fingers dancing along the edge of my undercut.

I pulled away, feeling a trail of his spit hanging down on my lip. I took my thumb and swiped it across my bottom lip, licking the spit off of my thumb. He looked _wrecked._ His eyes were blown wide, his shirt was wrinkled, his hair was messed up, his cheeks were flushed, and his breathing was off cadence. I lifted the corner of my mouth in a smirk. Internally, I was screaming at myself for being an absolute fuck up. _How could you do this? What the hell is wrong with you?_

“Glad to have you Mr. Jaeger. Or should I call you Eren?” I asked, shaking my head as I said it, as if I was trying to decide on which name was more appropriate. Eren opened his mouth, but no sound came out of those pretty little lips. _He’s adorable when he’s embarrassed, oh god, this isn’t how this is supposed to go._ I felt my own chest warm up at the sight of him in front of me.

“I know you don’t want any questions,” He began, trying to catch his breath, “But what exactly are you having me for?” I snorted.

“Breakfast, lunch and dinner.” I said sarcastically, removing my thigh from in between his, breaking the warmth we had between us. “I’m kidding Jaeger.” I clarified, pulling out my wallet.

“Why are you paying me?” He asked, confused as I handed him a $100.

“Like I said, glad to have you on board. Would you like to be called Mr. Jaeger or Eren?” The kid stammered.

“I don’t care?”

“Alright Eren. Welcome to your new career as my personal assistant.” As I said the words, the elevator doors opened into the lobby to reveal Armin and Grisha. _HA fuck._ I nodded to Grisha, unaware of my own current appearance as I stepped out of the elevator.

“Grisha. Armin. Nice to see you. See you tomorrow Eren, don’t be late for your first day.” I said as I walked by them and headed towards the restroom without a touch of emotion lacing my facial features. I wasn’t joking about taking the shit.

I didn’t look back, but I could only imagine what Eren looked like in front of his father and best friend. I bit my bottom lip, briefly considering if I had made the wrong call on the elevator. _No._ I reassured myself, releasing my lip that still tasted vaguely of Eren as I walked past the restroom to the door leading to the side of the building. _It reabsorbed._ I tried to shove the incoming thought of how _bad_ it looked to come out of the elevator with Eren, red and breathless, holding a hundred-dollar bill. I placed my hand on my forehead.

I pulled out a menthol cigarette as I looked out onto the busy street. Erwin was right. I was fucked up. And unfortunately, Eren had just been caught in the crossfire. _Goddamnit._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i could shake forever with how excited i am to be writing this. as usual lmk how its goin
> 
> ily <3


	5. Ever felt champagne go into your lungs?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> our favorite boys make it to the conference, where they meet up with some pretty important diplomats. eren is a tomato, armin is confused, and grisha is just happy that his son is there

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am spoiling you AGAIN and blessing you with a chapter filled with character dialogue and growth. please enjoy

_Welcome to your new career as my assistant._

_Breakfast, lunch, and dinner._

_Don’t be late._

My mouth stayed open in a perpetual “o” shape as I watched the man who had just kissed me in the elevator, _on our second meeting no less_ , walk out, past my dad and best friend, with not even a hint of care in his voice. He didn’t even look back.

“What was that about?” My dad asked, looking back towards Levi. I shoved the bill into my pocket and ran my hand through my hair.

“Nothing, he said something about the UN and career advice.” I nervously rubbed the back of my neck. I felt Armin’s eyes bore through my skull. My dad turned back to me. I prayed again, to whatever entity was up there, that he wouldn’t notice how disheveled I looked. I had been doing a lot more praying in the past 36 hours than I had in 21 years.

“Did he offer you a job?”

“I think so?”

“How do you think so?” My dad asked, with genuine confusion. I held my cool.

“He just talked about needing assistants to help him with paperwork and stuff.” Absolute fucking lie. I had no idea what his job was. Do they do paperwork? I didn’t even know if my dad had paperwork.

“I didn’t think you had any interest or experience in international finance.” My dad said, looking at Armin, who was still staring daggers into my eyes. The corners of his mouth were twitching.

“Oh yeah, I took a couple accounting classes in college and my major was political science, so yeah. I’m qualified.” My dad pursed his lips together, his glasses lowering.

“Interesting. Usually they choose grad students for that.” My antiperspirant had failed a third time. Even the backs of my knees were dripping. “But I guess Levi himself was fresh out of undergrad when Erwin took him on, so he’s probably returning the favor, huh?” My dad smiled at me. I smiled back.

“Yeah, he mentioned that. I guess I start sometime tomorrow or something.” He had not mentioned that.

“Ah. Well, if you boys are up for it, the conference A opening ceremony is tonight. If you guys want to come, it could be fun for you to watch. Especially if either of you are interested in any sort of international work.”

“We’ll think about it.” Armin said, quickly. “My stomach hurts, can we go to the room?” My heart dropped and I knew I was in for a verbal ass beating.

“Sure Ar. Dad, I’ll text you. When do we need to meet you?” He glanced at his phone screen.

“It would be best if you guys could be at the convention center in less than thirty minutes, but I understand. There’s no pressure, we’re here all week for conference B as well.”

“Okay, I’ll text you.” I said, as Armin hopped into the elevator, still staring into the depths of my soul. My dad waved and walked off as the doors closed.

“Eren, what the fuck.” Armin spat out.

“I don’t know! I don’t fucking know what happened! I was looking for my dad and suddenly he was on the elevator and his hands were in my hair and oh _god_ Armin,” I explained, “I don’t know what the fuck happened.”

“Well you better figure it the fuck out before you head into that conference center, because I’m almost positive that that’s were everyone else is headed.” My head started to hurt.

“Fine, we can just not go.” I retorted, folding my arms in front of me.

“We can’t just _not_ go now, Eren. We have to go.” I let my head rest on the wall of the elevator. Ironically, the same wall where my head was resting before when Levi decided to pin me down and assault my mouth with his own.

“Okay, then fine, we’ll go.” I said, pouting. “What do you want, Ar? I can’t change it, so back off.” Armin scowled.

“Why do you suddenly have an attitude with me?”

“Because I feel like you’re always on my ass for shit I do, and I’m tired of being treated like I need a chaperone all the time.” Armin let out an exasperated groan.

“Do you not understand that every time you’re left alone, some shit happens that could seriously damage other people?” I uncrossed my arms and decided to use my hands for emphasis.

“Armin. I didn’t do this on purpose. I was looking for dad, and he hopped on the elevator. He asked what I was doing, and I told him. He told me to stop asking questions and kissed me. After, he handed me a hundred dollars and told me I was working for him. Then he left. You saw him leave. And honestly, I’m pissed that he kissed and dipped and tried to pay me for it.” Armin folded his arms. “Why don’t you believe me?” I asked, frustration apparent in my voice and body language.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you. I don’t think this is going to end well for any of us here, and I think he’s playing a dangerous game with you right now.”

“Even if he is, so what? We’re out of New York at the end of the week. Time’s up, game over.”

“You really don’t think he’s going to the exact same places your dad is going?” I stopped. I thought. Armin was probably right.

“I didn’t at first.” I looked at the ground, cursing my body for making me nervous. “But I guess you’re right, it would make more sense than him just being here for shits and giggles. Not that I think he ever giggles.” Armin stifled a laugh, so I was making progress.

“There’s the Eren I know.” I rolled my eyes and looked at Armin.

“Are we good? Are we good now? Can we go get ready?”

“Yes, _ambassador assistant Eren._ ” I smacked the back of his blond head as he laughed.

“Fuck you Armin, seriously.” I walked off the elevator with him trailing behind me.

_Approximately 35 minutes later_

“We’re going to be late if you don’t get your shoes on.” Armin yelled from the front of the hotel room. I had been trying to tie my tie for a solid 10 minutes. I had watched three YouTube videos and read a wiki how and I was still failing to make it resemble anything remotely close to a proper knot.

“Coming,” I started, as I cursed my tie under my breath. “Actually, you need to help me.” I walked over to Armin. 

“You do it like this-“ Armin pulled at my green tie and fixed it with his nimble, robotics building fingers. “There. Looking like a million bucks.” He paused. “I mean _a hundred_ , my bad.” He smirked at me.

“Shut the _fuck_ up Armin.” I grabbed my wallet and phone without looking at him. “Let’s go.”

“Okay Mr. Pushy, alright.” Armin said, grabbing his own stuff, which included his backpack.

“Are you bringing your backpack?” I asked, pointing to the light blue bag on his shoulders.

“Well, duh. I have to take notes.” I raised an eyebrow.

“Why are you taking notes?” Armin looked at me, face grave.

“I need a job too, and I’m not going to get one without ~experience~.” He said while wiggling his eyebrows and grinning at me. I made a disgusted noise. “What!” He retorted, “Not like you were sucking face in a hotel elevator or anything.”

“You have a point. Good luck, I don’t know what Erwin does.” We started out the door and into the hallway.

“He can do whatever he wants.” Armin said, gaze straight in front of him, with a little smile resting on his face and his eyebrows still wiggling.

“Gross!” I replied, begging the mental image to get out of my brain.

“Eren I swear to God, if you don’t stop being a hypocrite, I’ll get the international police on your ass.” I snorted.

“There aren’t any, those don’t exist.”

“Then I’ll get the Peace Corps, and I’ll have Erwin order them to kick your ass.”

“They’re called the Peace Corps for a reason.” Armin tensed up.

“Alright, I’ll get the UN Peacekeepers on you.”

“Ew! I didn’t ask to be raped.”

“Holy shit, Eren, you shouldn’t even be going into the building. So sacrilege.” I laughed as we walked into the hazy New York air.

The convention center was just across the street in another hotel specifically meant for functions like this. I sent my dad a text letting him know we were on the way. We entered through the doors to be squished into a wave of people dressed in suits, carrying briefcases and champagne. I looked around to see if I could find my dad. Armin tugged on the sleeve of my coat.

“I think your dad is over there with those two girls.” I glanced over to see my dad having a lively conversation with a short redhead and a taller brunette with glasses. We headed towards them to say hello to my dad.

“WELL, AREN’T YOU JUST THE CUTEST THING!” The brunette launched herself at me. She was wearing a tan pantsuit and red patent leather heels. “Grisha has told me SO much about you!” She squealed into my ear as she hugged me.

“Hanji, let him go, this is his first conference.” My dad said with a laugh.

“Oh, but Grisha, he’s just so adorable. So is his friend!” She reached out a manicured hand. “I’m Hanji, and I know you’re Eren,” She said, pointing to me with her other hand as I shook her outstretched one, “And you must be…” She squinted her eyes, “Armin?” She peeked open one eye to see him smiling and nodding. “Awesome! Oh wow, we’re going to have SO much fun.”

“Grisha, are these your kids?” The redhead asked, voice much gentler than Hanji’s. She was wearing a light blue suit, with a pearl necklace, and black patent leather kitten heels. “My name is Petra, it’s nice to meet you!” She smiled softly and shook both of our hands. “Grisha talks highly of you, Eren. I’m happy to know that you graduated early. Do you have a job?” I saw my dad open his mouth, and for some reason, I thought that letting him speak would be a bad idea. I shot him a glare, which I am almost positive Hanji caught, and spoke up before he could make a noise.

“No, not yet, but I thought I could maybe meet some people here to see if this type of work is something I’m interested in.” I saw my dad nod, so he must have understood the hint. Honestly, that entire exchange probably looked suspicious as hell, but neither Petra or Hanji gave any indication that they were offended or confused.

“Eren studied political science. And apparently took some economics courses down the line. He was considering international finance, isn’t that right?” He was trying to help me.

“Uh huh.” I nodded. “I just love… paperwork and money I guess.” Hanji let out the most aggressive howl of a laugh I had ever heard in my life. Petra smiled.

“Well, Eren, there’s a lot more to international finance than money and paperwork. We have a few friends in that arena, if you’re ever interested in discussing anything with them.” She folded her pale hands in front of her, smiling. These people were most certainly humanity’s best diplomats. Except maybe Hanji, she seemed like she would be a better zookeeper than a diplomat.

“Thanks Petra.” I said, smiling and putting my hands in my pockets.

“So! Armin! What do you want to do?” Armin looked like a deer in the headlights responding to Hanji.

“Well, I actually graduated with a degree in biomedical engineering, and I was interested in going into a grad program in the field. I’m not sure if politics is my thing, so I wanted to test the waters.”

Never in my entire life had I seen someone’s face light up so fast, until I witnessed Hanji nearly toppling over Armin.

“I work for the International Science Council! Holy mother of molecules, you’re coming with me. Right now.” She grabbed his arm and started to drag him away. “Wait!” She stopped. “Eren, did you want to come?” She beckoned me with her hand. I looked at my dad and at Petra for approval.

“I’m going as well Grisha, so they’ll be safe.” Petra said, smiling. She was just so calming.

“Have fun, be safe! Don’t let Hanji eat you.” I shuddered at the thought. I imagined her to be fully capable of serving us Hannibal style. All three of us walked over to the bar area.

“Drinks?” Hanji asked, calling over the bartender. Armin began to protest.

No!” Hanji yelled, “It’s okay. We can consider this an international meeting, and the median drinking age around the world is twelve, so I don’t care how old you are. You graduated college so I’m going to assume you’re mature enough to drink, considering the US believes you’re mature enough to go shoot civilians.” Petra slapped Hanji’s arm lightly.

“Not here!” She whisper yelled, eyes wide. Hanji laughed.

“You know they all know it here.” Hanji turned to Armin and I. “Everyone here knows all the down and dirty. Ever wanted to know if a politician was having an affair? We know. Ever wanted to know if a country was planning to nuke another country?” She threw her head back in a laugh. “We probably know!” Petra laughed nervously.

“We don’t actually know.” She said quietly. Armin nodded, eyes wide, as he took a glass of champagne out of Hanji’s hand. She handed me one as well, and handed Petra a pink mojito, and took a double shot of rum for herself. I could see Petra rolling her eyes.

Hanji threw her arm around Petra’s waist. “Let’s go say hello to everyone!” She said, waving the empty shot glass above her head. Petra shook her head and pulled her arm down. “Boo, you’re no fun. Go hang out with Nanaba, she’s just as much of a killjoy.” Petra frowned. “Sorry babe.” Hanji said, putting the glass down.

“I don’t want you to scare the children.” Petra said, with a joking tone in her voice and a slight smile on her lips. Her dark brown eyes shone for adoration for the eccentric brunette in front of her.

“You know I won’t. The kids love me, that’s why they have me Dias the security council!” She smiled again and directed her eyes towards Armin and I. “Have you two done model UN?” We both shook our head.

“I did high school debate for a semester, if that counts.” I replied. Hanji laughed.

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Oh, okay.” I was only mildly offended. I heard Petra snicker.

“Well!” Hanji began, “Basically, we’re all here because this is a conference where the best students from the best colleges come to pretend to be delegates, ambassadors, diplomats, you name it. They invite real diplomats to watch and organize so we can help the kids along when it gets a bit tricky. If I’m the Dias, that means I get to sit in the big chair in the front of the room and tell kids what to do!” Her eyes had stars in them. Armin nodded.

“So, it’s basically role play? Political role play?” He asked, unzipping his backpack to take notes.

“Yes! Political LARP if you will.” Hanji gabbed Petra’s hand. “Come on, you _have_ to come meet Mike and Nanaba.” She started walking towards another room, but not before downing one more shot.

We dodged through a huge group of people to make it to a small clearing, where a taller blond man and a shorter girl with light blonde hair and glasses stood. The girl turned to watch us come up.

“Hanji! Petra! Welcome!” She exclaimed, bringing them into a hug. The blond man smiled and spoke in a gruff voice.

“Hello Hanji, Petra, how are you guys? How was the flight?” Petra smiled.

“It was wonderful, thank you Mike. These are Grisha’s kids,” She said, motioning to us. Hanji piped up.

“Actually, the blond one doesn’t belong to Grisha, but he might as well. We’ll adopt him!” She said to Petra, clasping her hands in front of her. Petra looked at the ceiling with a smile.

“Nice to meet you guys.” I extended a freshly dried hand out for them to shake. I was sweaty, but that was an understatement. Mike was strong but gentle, and Nanaba looked weak but had a hell of a shake.

“Nice to meet you too!” They said. “Hey, where are the others?” Nanaba asked, looking around. Hanji whipped her head around.

“I actually don’t know. I can call them?” Nanaba nodded. “Okay, give me a second.”

“I didn’t know there were more.” I nervously laughed, looking around at the sea of black and navy blue.

“Well, there’s thousands of us, but there’s a few core groups here. I’m sure you have people you know, and then people you like, right?” Petra said, tilting her head to the side.

“It’s like that here as well. We know hundreds of these people because we work with them daily, but we only like a select few.” She paused for a minute. “Although, these two are probably the most difficult to get along with.” Mike laughed.

“Only one of them. Erwin is pretty nice. Levi is kind of a jackass.” Both Armin and I’s hearts fell to our feet so loud I was convinced the greater area of New York City could hear it. Mike must have seen the surprise on our faces.

“I don’t mean that offensively if that’s what you think. They know their shit better than anyone else, so I don’t think I need to worry about offending them. Levi doesn’t get offended anyway; he can dish it out as well as people can serve.” Mike finished. I nodded. Armin looked at me.

“Can he? I didn’t realize diplomats were allowed to be rude.” Mike and the gang laughed. “What? Honest question.” I asked, holding out my hands defensively.

“Don’t worry. He’s just a little… rough around the edges.” Nanaba said, looking at Mike. Mike shook his head.

“Only in attitude. He’s a sharp son of a bitch, but I’ve never met anyone with a worse personality.” Ouch, I felt that one in my heart.

“They’re coming!!! Erwin said he’s excited to meet Grisha’s kids!” Hanji yelled. Petra smiled. Hanji paused. “Sorry kids, I don’t think Levi is going to be as friendly as Erwin but try not to let him offend you. He’s very blunt. Borderline offensive. He made it into politics by being an asshole, and he’s moving up by being an asshole, because that’s how it works.” She shrugged her shoulders. I started to open my mouth when I heard that authoritarian voice that had almost caused my gas station spring roll to reappear on the flight.

“Hello everyone!” Erwin said, raising a hand and smiling. His teeth were so bright that I wouldn’t be surprised if they brought a plane down by blinding the pilot. I saw Levi behind him.

Levi let out a short breath of air and a miniature groan. He hadn’t looked at me, but I knew that he knew I was here. My chest felt tight all of a sudden.

“I’m Erwin, and this is Levi.” He said, as he reached out to shake Armin and I’s hands. I opened my mouth again to speak, until I saw Levi gave me the same look I had given my dad earlier. Except, this one didn’t look friendly or flirtatious. It looked pissed. I quickly shut my mouth.

“Aww, don’t want to get germs on your pretty hands?” Hanji teased to Levi as he turned around with a wave.

“I’ll be at the bar until I know I can stomach everyone at the meeting.” Erwin rubbed the back of his neck.

“Sorry, he’s had a rough day.” Hanji nodded.

“Flights and hotels will do that to you.” She said, grabbing a glass of wine off of a tray that a server was carrying through the crowds. Petra frowned at her, but Hanji shrugged and started to drink anyway.

“Yeah, he had a tough flight and had an elevator malfunction.” I had chosen the wrong time to sip on my champagne as it came flying out of my mouth all over the floor. Hanji rushed over to me.

“Sweetie, are you okay? Is the champagne that bad?” I saw Erwin smirking out of the corner of my eye and cursed the entity up high for fucking with me. This is what I get for non-belief unless it suits me. I shook my head.

“Went down the wrong pipe.” I said, swallowing and regaining my composure. Erwin clapped Armin on the back, eliciting a light blush from the boy.

“You’re Armin, is that right?” Armin nodded his head but looked as confused as I did as to why the men were completely ignoring the fact that they had sat next to us on the plane. Erwin had even bought me a drink and flirted with me, for God’s sake.

“Yeah. Nice to meet you Mr….” He trailed off, waiting for Erwin to finish.

“Smith. Mr. Smith. But I don’t mind if you call me Erwin.” I saw the absolute agony in Armin’s eyes as he struggled to keep his composure. He was white knuckling the straps of his backpack.

“Okay, thank you Mr. Smith. Nice to meet you.” Armin said, trying to scoot away from the man just slightly. I knew Armin thought he was hot, but I didn’t think Armin was prepared for this amount of flirting. I hadn’t told him what transpired on the plane though, so I guess he went into this one blind and dry.

“On second thought,” Erwin purred, looking down at Armin, “I would rather you call me Erwin. It’s okay.” Armin bobbed his head up and down while taking in the largest breath of air I’ve ever seen a human take. Hanji laughed, seeing the very blatant spectacle of Armin’s crush.

“If Erwin was doing anything with science, I would shoo you away with him so fast.” She laughed, Petra and Nanaba looking at each other with wide eyes. “Unfortunately, he works with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, so you won’t be hanging out with him as much as you’ll hang out with me!” She came behind Armin and hugged him.

“Actually Hanji,” Erwin started, looking down on her with a condescending smile, “I could really use someone to help me with some of my files. He’s not used to working, so he should probably learn the clerical basics before he goes off to save the world.” He chuckled and put his hand on Armin’s shoulder.

“Oh yeah, I guess Levi transferred out of your department and into the International Monetary Fund. You haven’t found a new secretary yet?” She looked at him quizzically, searching his eyes for the secrets she knew he had.

“Nope. I figured I needed some time to figure out my organization before I took someone else on.”

“I see.” Hanji said, still looking at Erwin suspiciously. Just on cue, a certain black-haired man returned, holding a glass of rum at the top of the rim with his fingers. He sipped.

“What’d I miss? Wait, let me guess,” He asked, blankly looking around the group, “A shitload of nothing.” His eyes settled on me but didn’t have any emotion to them. My chest got tighter. Was he trying to forget about me?

Hanji piped up. “These are Grisha’s kids! Eren and Armin!” Levi sipped again, wiped his mouth with his thumb, and then returned his stare to Armin and I. _Come on heavenly entity, please._

“Are these brats from the conference, or are they just here to frustrate me?” He asked, giving a slight eye roll. Hanji cackled.

“That’s our Levi! So that’s Eren, with the brown hair, and that’s Armin, with the blond hair! Be nice, say hello.” Levi looked at both of us, his steely blue eyes switching between our faces, void of any expression. He made a grunting noise. “Shake their hands.” Hanji ordered, pouting, and crossed her arms like a kid who didn’t get her way.

Levi turned to us again, looked at us, and then turned back to Hanji.

“No. I’m not interested in chaperoning these two. I know they’re just like the rest of the college kids, stuck up little piss babies who make my life more difficult. I’m taking another smoke break.” I felt Armin tense up and look at me as Levi turned to head out a second time.

Now, here’s the thing about me. I mentioned before that I have low emotional intelligence and a bad temper, right? I also have nearly no filter if I’m riled up. So, before I could shove my own foot in my mouth and before Armin could slap a hand over my face, I spat out three little words.

“Fuck you, Levi.” As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I thought I was going to vomit. That was it, that was the last straw. I hadn’t thrown myself from the plane, but this building was certainly tall enough to take me out of my misery. Armin bit his lip.

“What did you say?” Levi said, slowly turning to face me. He looked pissed, eyebrows furrowed, but not like before. No, he looked predatory now, like I had just challenged him. “I’m not going to have some kid disrespect me like that.”

“I said, “Fuck you, Levi.” I repeated, standing up straighter and taking a sip of my champagne like the bad ass I was trying to be. I hadn’t seen Hanji more silent in the entire time I had been graced with her presence, and I was sure that I was never going to see her this quiet again.

“And I repeat, don’t talk to me like that, because I have just the amount of power to make your life a living hell.” He said, stepping towards me, the predatory gaze intensifying. Blessed with some seriously attentive rods and cones, I could have sworn that I saw the side of his lip twitch upwards. He _was_ challenging me.

“What are you going to do, take me to the retirement home and have the patients with Alzheimer’s tell me the same story over and over again? With your age that’s the only thing I can imagine.” I heard Armin cough. He was quickly shushed by Erwin who put a hand over his mouth. Levi blew air out of his nose as he downed the rest of his drink.

“No, I’ll take you back to kindergarten for nap time, because apparently, someone didn’t get theirs today.”

“Watch it, you might be confused for one of the kids. I know they grow taller these days with all the hormones in the milk.”

And with that, I saw my life flashing before my eyes as Hanji pulled me backwards and dragged me behind a doorway. Once inside, she turned to me.

“You can NOT say that.” She said, holding desperately to hold back a laugh.

“Why? You’re laughing?” I asked. She shook her head, still stifling laughter that begged to come forth.

“You don’t understand. You don’t do that to Levi, nobody does that to Levi. He wasn’t joking. He doesn’t exactly look like a teddy bear and he certainly doesn’t act like one.” She pleaded with me.

“Although,” She said, a twinkle in her eyes, “I like that you didn’t back down until I dragged you off. That takes balls.” She let out the laughter that she had been holding in. I sighed and looked at the ceiling. Did I ruin it?

“No, you didn’t ruin it.” She responded. I must have been speaking out loud. “Honestly, I don’t think I’ve seen him that animated in a while. Usually people back off when they see his face. But! You’re treading on thin ice. And unless you want him to take an ice pick to your head like Trotsky, I suggest playing it cool.” I nodded.

“But-“ She asked me, looking into my eyes, “What did you believe you ruined?” I felt my cheeks getting hot, and I knew she noticed as her eyes grew wide and she blushed as well.

“No, no fuck-ing way. No way in Jesus Christ’s Mercedes.” She laughed and moved away from me to study my face. “You think he’s hot!” She squealed, taking a sip of her wine. I rolled my eyes and laid down on the floor looking at the ceiling. Her face appeared over mine.

“THIS IS SO CUTE! Eren, you would be so cute with him. Although, on second thought, there was a chance that you ruined it, but I think if you play it chill tonight and stay away from him, you might be alright. I don’t think he’ll skin you,” she wiggled her eyebrows and smirked, “yet.” I groaned and covered my face with my hands.

“No, I don’t think he’s hot, and I never want to see his stupid face with those stupid eyes and that stupid nose ever again.” Hanji was silent as she started to shake.

“EREN HAS A CRUSH!” She yelled, laughing, and picked me up. “We gotta get back out there, he’s probably gone anyway. Don’t say anything to anyone. I won’t tell anyone. Okay, maybe Petra because she’s my wife, but I won’t tell anyone else.” She leaned down closer to my ear. “But it’s okay, Eren. If you want a job, I think I know just the man who might take you.”

My ears felt like they were covered in lava. I dragged my hand down my face. “Fucking fine, but please, don’t tell anyone. Please.” I pleaded with her. She giggled.

“You have my word, but Eren,” She began, starting to walk away, “The last person who had that attitude with Levi ended up missing work for a week for being “tired.”

I felt my entire body grow into a tomato. She laughed again and slapped me on the back. “If you don’t know what I mean by that-“ she began. I stopped her.

“No, I know what it means Hanji.” I groaned again. She grabbed my shoulder.

“Is this your first time? He’s gentle with first timers.” She looked at me with genuine concern for my health and well being.

If I could have buried myself into a hole right then and there, I would have, complete with a headstone that read “Here lies Eren Jaeger, with all of his hopes and dreams. Passed away from chronic idiocy.” I decided not to answer her question.

“We do need to get back out there, so if you’re done trying to get your dick to go down, let’s head out!” She said, standing up to salute me. I shook my head.

Who the hell were these people? Why did Levi hang out with them? As we walked back into the room, I was met with grim stares. The group lacked Levi, which wasn’t surprising. Petra patted my shoulder.

“Good work. He needed that.”

Looks like I would resemble a bottle of Heinz ketchup for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i pinkie promise, i know im a lover of the slow burn, but it will get quicker here in a sec. i'm just a sucker for lore, what can i say? 
> 
> leave a like if you liked, leave a comment why if you dont (joke)


	6. Kneecaps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> eren successfully leaves his first day of work with his kneecaps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> levi/eren heavy chapter!!! this was so much fun, pls enjoy <3

“I am exhausted Eren, I have _got_ to get in bed.” Armin sighed, letting his head roll back to exaggerate how tired he was.

“We’re going Ar, we’ll be there soon.” I reassured, making sure that he wasn’t about to keel over at any point on the short walk across the street back into The Reiss. I hadn’t noticed the name of our hotel until we saw the sign out front.

The rest of our night at the conference went as well as I assumed a Model UN conference could go. I had no experience, so I watched some seasoned Model UN veterans give speeches to the college kids while I sipped on the champagne that was reserved for the “real” diplomats. I hadn’t seen Levi or Erwin for the rest of the night, only Hanji and Mike. Petra had gone off with Nanaba somewhere in the midst of the presentation. Armin and I had stood way in the back. True to form, Armin had spent the entire night taking notes on his legal pad. I won’t lie, I did get on my phone for a while and spent some time playing mobile games. It was a fairly boring affair, but I guess it was nice to see what my dad helped out with.

Armin and I headed out around 11, when Hanji all but pushed us out of the convention center because it was “adult time.” Not like I was an adult or anything. I was a little peeved at her sudden dismissal of Armin and I, but I understood. I had just graduated and listening to hundreds of college kids in a large convention center was trifling for me, I couldn’t imagine what it was like for them.

I was only a _little_ upset that we hadn’t seen Levi for the rest of the night. After my outburst with the group, Hanji said that he was probably _not_ going to come back. I frowned. I thought I had really bunged that one up, just absolutely fucked the dog or whatever people say. _I don’t think that’s the right metaphor?_ Hanji tried to reassure me that he would be back, but she kept nervously texting someone and glancing at me. He was probably waiting for her to shove Armin and I out the door before he would even think about stepping outside.

That was okay. He had a right. I had definitely been a jackass to him, but in my defense, he was also being a jerk. _Nothing you can do now._ I nodded my head at no one in particular as Armin and I staggered into the lobby through the circular door. Armin resembled a seven-year-old who had stayed up past bedtime, groaning and walking slowly with his eyes half closed. I felt like an irritated uncle who just wanted to put him in bed so I could stop hearing about it. I loved Armin, but he could be so whiny. I figured that he put up with my horrible attitudes, so I would put up with his all the same. It was only fair.

We stood in silence in the elevator, Armin leaning against the wall and threatening to begin snoring at any moment. As soon as we hit our floor and the doors opened, Armin was making a beeline for our room. I smiled, watching my friend struggle to open the door. It wasn’t that late, but we had had a hell of a first day in New York. I walked in behind him, where he took of his shoes and bounced into the bed near the window. I was still in the process of trying to take off my shoes when I heard the soft sound of snoring. He was sprawled out on his stomach on top of the comforter, his face smooshed between the pillows. I dimmed the lights with the fancy light dimmer and took a look outside at the city. It was beautiful.

Times Square was a wild place. Never in my life had I seen so much capitalism in one small section of the world. It was 11:30 at night, and I still observed thousands of tourists running into stores and carrying shopping bags around. People were laughing and coming out of bars, taking pictures with their friends before going their separate ways. You’d think that people had things to go to in the morning.

It still looked fairly busy outside, and I wasn’t tired, so I opted to put on a less professional outfit consisting of some gray chinos and a black button down to head out for a walk. _Sasha and Armin outdid themselves._ I looked at myself in the mirror. My brown hair was out of place from Hanji ruffling it, and my eyes had some pretty gnarly bags resting beneath them. I grabbed a comb and some hair gel that I had brought, _just in case_ , and attempted to slick my hair back. I had seen a bunch of men at the conference with this hairstyle, and it looked good on them.

 _No._ I said, looking at myself in the mirror. _You look like a fool_. My forehead was uglier than I had expected. Usually my hair just kinda hung in front of it, but now it was exposed for the world to see. I did look older though, and I figured that since these clothes weren’t something I would normally wear, my hair shouldn’t reflect my normal style either. I grabbed my wallet, phone, and key card, and headed out the door.

I hopped on my phone while I waited for the elevator to appear.

 _Ding_.

I looked up.

“I’ll wait.” I said, glaring at the short, well-dressed man in front of me. I saw him look me up and down, pausing at my hair just a bit longer than usual. I cleared my throat.

“Did you stop wearing Axe too?” Levi asked, crossing his arms. I watched him punch the “door open” button. I frowned.

“What?”

“It looks like you finally graduated from paying $6 for a kid’s cut, so I figured maybe you’d have graduated to a higher-class cologne as well.” My glare intensified, eyes squinting. The door started to buzz, and Levi hit the button again with his hip.

“I said I would take the next one.” I repeated, taking out my phone to look at the screen. Although my heart was jumping out of my chest and my hands felt like I had been at an aquarium petting zoo, I was still angry. He had ignored me the entire night, embarrassed me in front of my new friends, and pretended he had no idea who I was.

“And I said I’m holding the door open for you, unless you want me to take that hundred dollars back.”

“You can have it.” I shrugged, not looking at him. My cheeks were burning, and I mentally thanked myself for wearing such a dark shirt.

“I’m not going to reach into your back pocket to grab it without permission, Jaeger.” I let out a gasp of air, eyes staying on the phone screen. _Always on the phone screen. Do NOT look up at him._ I looked up at him. _Damn you._

“Fine, I’ll get it for you, but you have to let me take the next elevator.” I started to reach into my back pocket for my wallet, where I pulled out the bill Levi had shoved in my hand earlier. I held it out to him.

“I think I’m worth more than a hundred.” He replied, looking at the bill in my hand and then tracing his gaze up my outstretched arm and back to my hair. I sighed.

“Personally, I wouldn’t pay more than ten cents to stand in the elevator with a man who kissed and dipped and forgot I existed, no matter how pretty.” _You goddamn refrigerator, why? Why did you say that?_ Levi scrunched up his face and snickered.

“Didn’t know you were a kid of morals.”

“I’m not a kid, I’m a legal adult.” I retorted, watching him as he hit the “open door” button again. “Leave! Go! Go downstairs, I’ll take the next one.” I huffed.

“I thought you were my hired help.” Levi said, bringing his half-lidded eyes to my own. His voice was passive, but frustrated. I let out a “cleansing breath” like I learned in anger management.

“Fine, but that’ll be fifty. Unless you want to swap spit again, then that’s a hundred. Anything else is two hundred and up.” I said, rolling my eyes as I stepped into the elevator. I swore I could see a smirk growing on the corner of his lips as he took out his phone.

“I misspoke.” He said dryly, scrolling.

“What now?” I asked, rolling my neck to look at him with a scowl on my face. He didn’t turn to me.

“I said you were a kid of morals, but unless I’ve suddenly become deaf, it sounded like you were trying to whore yourself out.” I let out a short “ugh” noise and stepped to the other side of the elevator.

“I was trying to play along. You started it.” I paused and suddenly got serious, “You could be going deaf though. I know Armin’s dad’s hearing started to go out at your age.” With lightning precision, I saw him point out his freshly manicured finger to hit the button two floors below us, causing the elevator to stop before the ground floor.

“Out.” He ordered. I hesitated. “Eren Jaeger, if you do not get the fuck out of this elevator, I will personally break your kneecaps just so I can sleep at night knowing you’ll never come into an elevator with me again.” He had still neglected to look at me. My eye twitched.

“I’m quitting then, I wouldn’t want to be your assistant anyway.” His eyes immediately shot up to mine, fire blazing in his irises.

“If you don’t get out immediately, you might be disabled by tomorrow morning. But you’re still filing paperwork for me. I’ll send a wheelchair.” He said, handing me a business card. “Tomorrow at 8AM, do not stop, do not pass go, do not collect money from anyone else.” I snatched the business card out of his hand and flared my nostrils.

“Possessive much?” I said, walking out of the elevator into the hallway without looking back.

“Don’t be late.” I heard from behind me before the doors closed. I cursed at myself under my breath.

“He’s hot!” I said out loud, putting my palms over my red-hot cheeks. “Why did I do this!” I groaned and messed up my own hair. I walked to the staircase, but suddenly I didn’t feel much like going out. Waste of hair gel. I trudged back to the stairs, more willing to walk up 6 flights than possibly run into Levi again.

I was out of shape, it was undeniable. I thought my lungs would give out by the time I reached the 10th floor. I slunk down next to the door before entering the hallway. I pulled out the now-crinkled business card from my pocket. In the plainest Times New Roman font, it read:

“Levi Ackerman

Senior Human Resources Officer

Washington, DC

le.ackerman@imf.gov

777-777-7798”

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. He works in HR?” I threw my head back in laughter. “Senior too!” I cackled louder. There was _no way_ that fun-size ball of fury worked as a human resource representative. I scooted back up the wall and headed to the room, remembering his warning.

I entered and Armin stirred awake, looking sleepily at the clock. “Eren, what… what time is it?” He said, groggily.

“Armin,” I whispered, laughing, “Levi works in HR!” Armin nodded and immediately hit the pillow again, snoring. He’d find it funny tomorrow.

_6:55AM_

I had never been so anxious before that I woke up before my alarm went off. I thought that was a myth from productive people. Apparently, today, I had joined that club. I opened my eyes and was wide awake at 6:55. _Shit, today is the day._ I slowly hopped out of bed; Armin still passed out without even a blanket on. He’d be upset about that tomorrow, but for now he looked peaceful.

I smacked myself in the head. What was he going to do all day? I hoped that Levi wouldn’t keep me for an 8-5 or something and let me go around noon. I _was_ on vacation, of course. I picked out a nice enough outfit: khaki slacks, a light blue shirt, a navy jacket, and a dark blue tie. I showered, shaved, and slicked back my hair again, feeling accomplished that I had put more than 30 seconds into my appearance. I even brushed my teeth _twice_ , although the second time was because I was too anxious and couldn’t convince myself I had done it the first time.

_7:20AM_

I rolled my eyes. Really? I would be 40 minutes early. I pulled out the business card, which smelled faintly of teak wood, and typed in the number in my phone. I was hoping that it would show up with those little blue messages, indicating that this was indeed a cell number and not some office number. _Nice._

I quickly typed out a text to Levi:

**Eren: hey im otw, do u want a coffee**

I locked my phone for all of 2 seconds before I felt it vibrate.

**Levi: Did you take middle school English?**

I scrunched up my face in confusion.

**Levi: You work as an office assistant now, type like an adult.**

**Levi: I’ll take a large Americano, nothing in it.**

**Levi: Don’t forget the sleeve. And the green thing on top.**

I giggled to myself.

**Eren: Didn’t know you weren’t above quadruple texting.**

**Levi: You’re a shit, you know that?**

**Levi: I’m trying to get your ass moving.**

**Eren: LOL, okay. Where do you want me to meet you?**

**Levi: 1560. 15 th floor. **

**Eren: Not an office?**

**Levi: My office is in DC, dingus. Read the card.**

**Eren: Mmkay.**

**Levi: Okay.**

**Eren: Alright.**

**Levi: Fuck off.**

I stopped responding and tried to gather my composure. Where was the asshole I had seen at the conference? Where was the dick in the elevator? He thought _I_ texted funny. Here he was, trying to get the last word in. I couldn’t contain myself, and I laughed all the way down into the lobby to grab us our beverages from the coffee shop across the street.

As soon as I had the large Americano, with sleeve and green thing, and my own medium latte, also with sleeve and green thing, I was on my way up to the 15th floor fifteen minutes early. I knocked on the door to be greeted with a fully dressed and prepared Levi, who grumpily grabbed his coffee, inspected it, and then nodded.

I looked around at the enormous room. It looked like mine, but a bit bigger, with additional desks. I bent down to take off my shoes.

“Shoes on.” He said, pointing to me with his coffee cup up to his lips.

“We’re inside though?” Levi looked at me like I had just won the world’s biggest fuck-up award.

“It’s a hotel.”

“Yeah and?” His eyes grew wide and he shook his head, a look of disgust on his face.

“Do you know how disgusting these floors are? They’re tile, but probably have MRSA on them or something.” I stifled a laugh. He glared at me. “Shoes stay on. No shirt, no shoes, no service.”

“Guess I can’t work here then.” One of his eyebrows raised. I looked back at him with a forlorn look. “I always do my best work shirtless without shoes on, it’s how I got through college.” I honestly could have probably heard his eyes rolling into his skull like marbles down a chute.

“I swear to god Jaeger,” He pinched in between his eyes with his free hand, “I wouldn’t have ever hired you if I knew how much of a colossal pain in the ass you’d be.”

“You’re right. You shouldn’t have hired me.” I began, looking at his expressionless face that was currently downing caffeine at an inhuman speed, “But you haven’t seen me file papers yet. I’m more efficient than I look.”

“Yeah, you get done fast?”

“Only when it counts.” He blew out a small gust of air in one of those meme laughs you do in bed at night. He motioned for me to come over to the desk, which was covered in loose papers.

“These are all complaints that need to be filed. You probably saw that I work in HR,” I almost laughed but held it in. He continued,

“Stop that. Yes, I work in HR, its temporary until I can move up because it was the only position they had available.” He rolled his neck like he was wasting time. “These are all complaints that need to be filed in their respective categories. Leave out the sexual harassment claims and the salary discrepancies, those are highest priority and I need to see those first.”

“I’ll leave out the age discrimination ones as well, yeah?” As soon as the words came out, I knew Levi was 100% done with my bullshit.

“Sure, leave out the ADA ones as well. I’ll have to make sure the desk is compliant.” He waved and walked away.

“Where are you going?” I asked, moving my eyes between the thousands of pages on the desk.

“Conference. I’ll be back at 12, and if you’ve gotten it all nice and neat for me, I might consider letting you go out for lunch.” I nodded and swallowed. He nodded at me and shut the door.

I scanned the massive pile of papers that I would have to sort through. Honestly, I didn’t even know where the claim type was located on the pages. I texted Armin to let him know I would be done at 12 and searched the desk drawers for a notebook and pen. I did a cursory glance around the room to make sure no one was hiding in here and rifled through his briefcase that was sitting on the floor to see if he had any examples of how he liked them to be organized.

I may have had low emotional intelligence, a bad temper, and a potentially low IQ, but I also had a hell of a work ethic and I was too competitive for my own good. These papers would be organized for God himself in such a way that nobody could complain. I saw that he stapled loose claim pages together and organized them by category and date, oldest on top. I put in my headphones, grabbed a stapler, and went to work.

_11:30AM_

I heard the door creak open as I was taking the edge of a book to each individual pile to ensure that the edges were all aligned.

“I told you I finish fast when it counts, where we eating?” I asked, looking up to see _not_ the seat-stealing foul-mouthed cute-as-sin man who was currently my boss, but seeing Erwin.

“Hello Eren, why are you in here?” He asked, peeking around the door and letting himself in slowly like I was some sort of rabid animal. My expression was neutral and welcoming, channeling my _best_ Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs impression I could muster.

“Levi had me organize his claims for him.” Erwin nodded and looked at the neat stacks of paper I had organized on the desk, just so to where all of them fit perfectly and were aligned beautifully. The sexual harassment and salary claims were right in front, and the others were organized clockwise from most to least important. Of course, I put the ADA next on the list after salaries, and then the Age Discrimination Act pile after that. Erwin walked over to the desk.

“I know we didn’t start off on the right foot, but,” He whistled, “This is impressive work. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone pay this much attention to this before. When Levi was my assistant, I thought he was thorough, but Eren, this is next level. Good work.” He nodded in approval and gave me an actually genuine looking smile for the first time.

“So, Levi worked for you?” I asked, sweet as a button. He put his hand to his chin.

“You could say that.” _Ominous._

“Was he your Anne Sachs as well?” Erwin let out a hearty laugh.

“Well, he certainly acts like Miranda Priestly now, but when he worked for me, he mainly added numbers and filed the claims with the various departments. You won’t be filing the claims or double-checking figures, most likely just keeping him organized.”

“He doesn’t look like a messy person.” I said, pursing my lips and glancing around the room. Even if Erwin lived here too, the room was spotless.

“You’d be surprised. But come, let’s take you to lunch, I see you’re done.” I nodded and made sure to roll the chair back carefully as to not disturb the papers.

“Can we invite Armin?” I blurted out, suddenly remembering that I had promised him lunch. “I told him that I would be at lunch with him around 12.” I said sheepishly, hoping Erwin hadn’t been freaked out. He nodded.

“Sure. We’ll go to the Italian place up the street. We can grab him on the way down.”

We picked up Armin at the room, who was nearly shaking out of his freshly shined shoes. Erwin had already laid it on thick and was getting handsy. Then, it dawned on me. Where was Levi? I reached into my pocket to check my phone. It was 12:30, and there were no missed calls or texts. Suddenly, I felt like going to lunch was a _very_ bad idea. I stopped in the middle of the lobby.

“Hey, I can’t go. Levi hasn’t texted me yet.” Erwin looked confused.

“It’s okay, you’re with me and Armin. He’s probably busy.” I shook my head. I just _knew_ that I would actually need a wheelchair if Levi knew I had left the room without him. Erwin sensed my hesitation and Armin looked at me with pleading eyes.

 _Okay Eren, either go with them and suffer the wrath of Levi kicking in your kneecaps and your face, or leave Armin out to die with Erwin and potentially keep your kneecaps._ I needed my kneecaps.

“Sorry, I don’t feel like he would like that.” I said plainly, looking at my phone screen and becoming increasingly anxious that he had already gotten to the room. Erwin looked at me with a sparkle in his eye. The side of his mouth twitched upwards in the _tiniest_ of smirks.

“Why is that?” He asked, voice suddenly becoming all presidential on me. I shrugged.

“He seems like the type to get bent out of shape over something like this. Plus, it’s my first day.” Erwin chuckled.

“Alright, take the key and make sure you give it to Levi whenever he comes back. If he doesn’t, text Armin and we can grab it from you.” I stuttered.

“What do you mean, “If he doesn’t come back?”

“He might be messing with you. Are you positive you don’t want to come with?” I wasn’t sure if it was my competitive nature or the fact that my body was attracted to Levi’s animal magnetism, but I knew that I absolutely could not step foot out of the hotel without being beat within an inch of my life. I shook my head.

“I’m good. Thank you for the offer.” I took the key from Erwin, grabbed one of those nasty free hotel lobby coffees, which was cold, and made my way back to the room.

I held up my key to the magnetic circle on the door and heard the lock pop open. I scanned the room, it looked empty.

“Where were you?” I heard, from the other corner of the room. I jumped.

“Shit! You scared me.” Levi walked around the kitchen area and was drinking tea.

“Where were you?” He repeated, swirling the tea around while holding the rim of the cup with his fingertips.

“I uh, Erwin came in before you and asked if I wanted to get lunch. I was supposed to go with Armin, so we invited him, but then I realized that I would probably lose my kneecaps and some teeth if I went with, so I told Erwin I had to stay and took the key and-“ I took in a big breath of air, “I came back here as fast as I could so I wouldn’t be the next claim in the ADA pile.” Levi just nodded and beckoned me to come to the desk.

“This?” He said, gesturing to the neat stacks, “Is beautiful Jaeger. I almost came in my pants when I walked in.” I blushed. “If you ever do anything less than this level of quality though, you can forget your employment and ability to walk.”

“Why is it always about the walking with you? Why the kneecaps?” He looked at me with an expression mirroring the dead sea.

“Because I can’t reach much higher on you.” He said, sipping his tea. I choked on my own spit. “You’d have to get on your knees for me to take anything else out, and you were just hired, so we can wait on that one.” His eyebrows wiggled _ever_ so slightly, and all of the blood in my body rushed below my belly button.

“What does that mean?” I asked, feigning ignorance. He let out a small chuckle.

“My bad, I forgot you’re too young to know.” I groaned and rolled my eyes.

“Come on, let’s go.” He said, putting down his cup and grabbing his coat. I grabbed mine.

“Where are we going?” I asked, excitedly hopping on the balls of my feet. My stomach was growling, but to be honest, I was more concerned about the khaki slacks and their camouflaging abilities.

“On a date.” He said, turning to face. I blushed. “Idiot, I’m joking. That would be wholly inappropriate to date your subordinate.” He turned around to open the door.

“Oh yeah. But some freaks are into that, you know? There’s a whole category of porn on it.” I could have died again on the spot. I actually smacked my head in the face knowing he was facing away from me. _This one takes the cake, if Hanji had heard this one I think people in China would hear her laughter._ Levi stiffened.

“Remind me to one: never let you use my computer, and two: never ask you about your dreams.” He glanced over his shoulder at me, just the faint appearance of reddening cheeks. “Although, I guess it takes two.”

I actually had to steady myself on the door frame for that. I watched as Levi snickered and walked away as I was holding my entire body weight with my arms. My legs were jello again.

“Look! I won’t even need to bust your kneecaps with physical force.”

I let out an irritated sigh/moan/groan hybrid and followed him to the elevator. Much to the disappointment of my own conscious mind, the low-IQ and competitive portions of my brain combined in my attempt at a last word.

“Depends how broken you want them to be. Should I be limping? Or crawling?”

I had no idea what happened in those few moments, but the next thing I knew I was up against the elevator wall like day one, a playful but competitive look in Levi’s wide pupils. He growled at me,

“You’ll do whatever I want, and you’ll take whatever punishment comes with it. If you want to be mouthy, you can bet that your sweet ass will never be walking straight again.” I smirked. Levi put me down and faced away from me for the entire elevator ride and walk out of the hotel.

Despite the fact that I looked like a stop sign and had to hold my jacket in front of me, I felt like that was _pretty good._ I felt like that went well. I sucked in air as Levi turned to face me.

“Are we eating sandwiches, or am I wining and dining you?” He asked, deadpan, zero emotion in his eyes. My mouth twitched.

“Depends how much cash you have on hand.” I smirked. I saw his eyelids just close ever so slightly, and his lips open just wide enough for me to notice.

“Per Se" it is.”

_I win._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in case you missed it, those were Devil Wears Prada references, and a reference to a ridiculously overpriced restaurant in Manhattan
> 
> im having way too much fun writing this, i hope you guys like it! thanks as always and lmk what you think!
> 
> ily <3


	7. Always eat before drinking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> eren and levi have lunch, armin and erwin have lunch, and our favorites meet up with their friends from months ago for a good night of drunken fun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> levi/eren heavy again hehe
> 
> also 7k words because i have no shame or handle on myself

_Levi_

I hadn’t realized that he was going to be this much of a little shit, I really didn’t. I figured it would be, as horrible as it sounds, an easy situation where both of us would be content.

I’ve always been aware of the fact that I was, indeed, kind of an asshole. I don’t want to blame my nature or some dumb shit like that, that’s not how I function. Maybe it’s the fact that my parents despised me growing up, or maybe it’s the fact that from a young age I was trying to fuck around with anyone who could move me up in the world. When you get into those types of situations during your formative years, they change your outlook on people and the greater whole of humanity.

A twinge of guilt coursed through my body like an electrical shock as I looked at the kid in front of me. I was trying desperately to hide the fact I was staring by only glancing when I had my wine glass up to my lips, but I knew he could tell.

For all that frustrated me about Eren Jaeger, the worst part was that I felt horrible. I never feel horrible. I rarely regret the choices I make. I try to live my life on my own terms, where I’m comfortable with whatever choices I’ve brought upon myself. Right here? This was a disaster waiting to happen.

He was willing. He was eager. He organized my files like _no other._ I knew all too well and too fast that he was a people-pleaser. He shot it back as me as hard as I shot it at him. He never backed down. I hated, no, despised the fact that I felt _bad._ I felt like I was doing the world a disservice by ruining this bright kid. Have you ever been so convicted of a wrong internally that you couldn’t eat? That’s about the point I was at when I looked at my spaghetti and only saw worms.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Eren asked me, pausing his own fork to observe my response. I took another sip of my wine.

“I’m not very hungry.” He nodded and started to hold the fork closer to his mouth. Unfortunately for me, he decided to stop again.

“We could have gone somewhere less expensive if you weren’t hungry. Now I feel bad, I don’t want to waste any of your time or money.” He looked at me with those big, bright, beautiful green eyes. I furrowed my brow and bit the side of my bottom lip as I picked up my fork to attempt a bite of food. I could see him smile as I made an attempt at the worms.

“Happy now, brat?” He nodded; his face full of food. I started to chew but became all too aware of how many times I had chewed, which made the whole eating fiasco a lot harder than it should have been. I forced the half-chewed food down my throat and took another sip of wine. That’s a lie, I actually finished the whole glass and beckoned the server for another.

I idly watched out the window at all the passing people, wondering how many of them had been in my position. _How do you get what you want without fucking someone else up in the process?_ I drummed my fingers on the table.

“Levi,” Eren began, swallowing his food, “Seriously, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” I spat, looking at him and then immediately looking away. Eren’s eyebrows lowered and he looked like a puppy that had just been kicked. I sighed and pinched my nose. “It’s fine, I’m fine. Just eat.”

“You aren’t fine.” He said, chewing on the side of his cheek. He gently put his fork down and wiped his mouth. “Are you drunk? Is that it?” I scoffed.

“Gonna take a lot more than a couple of glasses of wine to get me drunk kid.”

The cogs in his surprisingly efficient brain were turning and I suddenly regretted saying that to him.

“Okay, I’ll match then. I’m not going to have you feeling shitty. What else do you have to do for the day?” I looked at him like he was insane.

“I’m not getting you shitfaced in the middle of an expensive restaurant Jaeger, it’s a bad look for both of us.”

“And I’m not going to sit here while you mope around and hold your feelings in. So, either I get drunk or you stop with the attitude.” I let in a big breath as I turned to face him, chin pointing slightly down, looking through my eyelashes.

“We’re getting the bill.” I grumbled. He slammed his hand on the table.

“No, tell me what’s wrong.” He ordered, his voice getting louder. There were now three, no, four tables looking at us in the middle of this restaurant that charged $50 for a plate of spaghetti. I slapped my forehead with my palm.

“Fine, you know what’s wrong? You keep asking me what’s wrong and its pissing me off. So do me a favor and quit it before I leave and let you handle the bill.” I whisper yelled, pointing at him.

I was not handling this situation well at all, and it was very apparent. Not being in control of the situation was one of my least favorite happenings. Right now, I definitely did not have the upper hand. Sure, Eren had a little outburst, but that didn’t compare to the 30-year-old man getting wine drunk at 1PM to ignore the fact that he felt _guilty_. Genuinely pathetic.

“So, how about the weather instead?” He asked, very obviously trying to hold in a laugh. _Why? Why do you always have to surprise me?_ I shook my head.

“I hate small talk.”

“You hate everything apparently.”

“Maybe I do.” Eren sighed and rolled his eyes, taking my wine glass and drinking from it. I furrowed my brow. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to see if you even like the wine.” I folded my arms and glared at him.

“I don’t.” As soon as I mumbled that, the contents of the glass slid down his throat. “Damn it Jaeger, that was like fifteen bucks.”

“Take it out of my paycheck then, or I’ll just put a little extra into my performance.” He said, shrugging. Suddenly, I wanted to get the bill again. Of course, he had to continue.

“I’m not trying to be a pain-“ He started. I cut him off,

“You are.” He cleared his throat.

“I’m not trying to be though. You’ve had like, five mood swings since I’ve seen you today and I’ve spent less than two hours total in your presence. It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me, but it’s kind of unwelcoming and I don’t feel like sitting here if you’re going to be rude.”

“Isn’t that what I pay you for?”

“What?” He asked, eyes wide like he was just coming to the realization. “Like, to listen to you complain about work?”

“No.”

“You pay me to… Keep you company?”

“Bingo.” He looked down at the table.

“So, you weren’t kidding about me sounding like I was whoring myself out. Is that what you want? You want a little assistant whore?” He retorted, voice turning into a hushed, angry tone rather than a yell. I shook my head and rolled my eyes, bringing my hand up to rest my head in it. He was observant, another thing that both entranced and frustrated the ever-living _shit_ out of me.

“That was half a joke. No, I don’t want a little office whore- If I did, we wouldn’t be eating together. I did hire you as my assistant to organize my papers, but I also hired you because-“ He cut me off. - _I need a companion._

“So, you’re not going to pimp me out?” I shook my head, grateful that he had cut me off.

“No, Jaeger, I am not going to pimp you out.”

“So you’re also serious about me not taking money from anyone else though?” He continued, smirking.

“I am serious about that, but only because I think I’m going to have you sign a non-compete contract. Can’t have anyone else taking away my secret to efficiency.” The cogs in his brain were turning again.

“What do you mean, _half joke_?” I stared at him blankly, trying to make my expression as void of any emotions as possible.

“It was a half joke. I don’t want you working for someone else, but your statement _did_ sound like you were trying to whore yourself out.” I held up my hands in defense. “You said the words, not me.” He angrily shoved another bite of chicken parmesan into his mouth.

“You know what, Levi?” He asked, mouth still full of food. “I think you need some help.”

“Maybe so.” I replied, grabbing the new wine glass that the server had brought, likely because he heard us arguing. “Even if I did, there’s not a damn thing you can do about it other than organizing my claims and making my life easier.” I drank. He grabbed it as soon as it hit the table and took a sip, eyes glowing with, honestly, a mix of anger, frustration, arousal, and disappointment.

“I’ll get more wine then.” I snickered, calling over the waiter.

“No.” He said, holding up his hands. “If you want to get day drunk, you’re not going to do it here.”

“I thought _you_ were the one who wanted me to get day drunk.” He groaned at my statement. “I’m not in the mood for getting day drunk. I’m getting the bill and you’re released for the day, I have to go back to the conference.” I did not, in fact, have anywhere else to go that day, but my tiny reservoir of patience and emotional allowance was quickly dwindling.

“Let’s make a deal.” He said, eyes glimmering. _This is going to be a shitshow._ I sighed.

“What, Jaeger, could you _possibly_ want in a deal from me? I’m already paying for your shit and giving you a good letter of recommendation.” He shook his head. With an air of confidence, he continued,

“Deal is this. My work performance continues to be good for a week, and then when we get to DC, you have to tell me why you’re such a teenage girl. If my performance fails, I’ll get out of your hair and leave you to it.”

“Doesn’t sound like much of a deal to me.” I heard the imaginary clock ticking; I was already losing him. _Figures, I knew he would leave._ There wasn’t a chance in either heaven or hell that he would stick with me for longer than two days. His eyebrow raised.

“Oh? Is the great Senior HR rep Levi telling me that he _wants_ me around?” He wiggled his eyebrows. “You’re more expressive than you think.” I put both of my hands over my face. _Goddamnit. Why was he so perceptive?_

“You’re a little shit, you know that?” I said, looking up at him. The kid was just _smiling._ God. “Wipe the grin off your face.”

“No.”

“Jaeger, don’t forget the kneecaps.”

“You can’t reach my face though.”

“I cannot believe I ever considered hiring you.” I groaned as I gave the server my card to pay for the meal.

“You can’t use violence to cover up feelings, you know.” He said, beginning to stand up.

“You have a lot to learn about being an adult then.” I signed the returned bill and left a tip on the table. “What are you, a shaman? Christ kid, just quit while you’re ahead, you won’t get anywhere with that attitude.”

“That’s okay. I know it’ll take time. I’m okay with that.”

“You’re okay with wasting hours on trying to figure out why I have mood swings?”

“Yeah.”

“Your loss.”

“I think it’s _our_ gain.”

“What is this, a comrade joke? Fuck off and go see Armin.” I barked.

“Fine, but I’ll see you tomorrow at the same time then?” He asked with a soft smile.

“Don’t be late.”

With that, he turned and left. I walked into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror as any good self-loathing individual would do in this type of situation. My skin was paler and my eye bags darker than normal, and it was only half due to the increased workload since switching jobs.

No, the other half of it was the night I had stayed up against my will thinking about that kid and the way he looked at me on the plane. The way he looked at me after I kissed him in the elevator. The concern in his eyes as he watched me eat. _Ugh._ I splashed some water on my face and headed out of the building.

It hurt because I saw so much of my younger self in him. Which, in all reality, sounded insane at this point in my life because I’ve been so far removed from the youthful innocence I had had years ago. I knew how it felt to look up to someone and then have them fuck you over just to get what they want out of you. I knew how sublime it felt to finally have that acceptance, that approval. I also knew how it felt to get it swept out from underneath you, how it felt to be thrown into an uncomfortable situation with no out in sight.

At the least, I was self-aware of what I was doing. At least I wasn’t ignorant. No matter how hard I wanted to fire him and leave back to DC to go sit in my office alone, I couldn’t get those concerned eyes out of my head. I seemed reserved, but I was actually quite an impulsive person. I had never felt gross about my decisions before though, no. Even if they were questionable at best, I knew that it was my fault and my fault alone.

This wasn’t Eren’s fault. Did he even realize what was happening? Did I realize what was happening? _Fuck if I know._ I started to walk back to the hotel but turned to walk further away so I didn’t have to see his bratty face or hear his bratty voice. Suddenly, I was hit with a much-needed pang of self-observation.

I thought that maybe I thought he was too innocent. Maybe this situation wasn’t as nefarious as I thought it would be. Maybe he wasn’t innocent and knew exactly what he was doing. What if that was the case, and he was willingly worming his way into my life? I mentally stepped back.

What if it was _me_ who was fucking this up? What if it didn’t have to play out the way my story did? Wasn’t _I_ in control of what happened to him? I laid it out in my head. If Eren didn’t understand, and I continued to force him into this arrangement, that would be morally wrong. However, if by some _slim_ fucking chance the kid knew what he was doing, then this situation would only be _ethically_ questionable from a work standpoint. It would be consensual. I nodded to myself and turned around back to the hotel. I walked the two blocks back and pulled out my phone to text Eren, to ask him if he would be willing to meet up tomorrow morning for a chat.

Before I could press send, I looked up to see if the crosswalk was green. As I crossed, I caught a glimpse of that familiar brown hair in the crowd. I sped up a little bit.

_Oh no._

He was walking alongside a _very_ scared looking Armin. _Armin went out with Erwin. Erwin is connected to me. Erwin is pulling the same stunt on Armin. I’m pulling the same stunt on Eren. Armin is Eren’s best friend. Best friends talk._ Suddenly, the two bites of pasta and wine threatened to come back up. I saw Eren nervously glance around with his arm on Armin’s shoulder. They walked into a café together. It was too small for me to go in without being seen. _Fuck._

I ran my hand through my hair. The only way to figure out how this would go would be to wait on Eren and see what he said to me. I guess I could have asked Erwin, and maybe I would. I ducked down beneath the windows in a shitty attempt to not be seen and jogged back to the hotel. If Erwin was there, I needed to know _exactly_ what went down so I could prepare my statement for Eren’s resignation and threats of blackmail.

_Fuck._

_Eren_

“Lunch with Levi was an absolute bust, Ar.” Armin looked at me, concerned.

“What do you mean? How was it a bust?”

“Well, he had a shitty attitude the whole time and didn’t want to talk. I think I did something to piss him off, and I’m not sure what.” I replied, replaying the events of the meal in my head, racking my brain to capture the _exact_ point I had fucked up. No matter how many times I went through the lunch, there was nothing coming up. I couldn’t think of one thing I did wrong. _Maybe he’s just a shitty person._ Armin bit his bottom lip.

“Erwin wants to hire me.” He blurted out. “I don’t think he wants me to just be an assistant though.” He trailed off and looked at the ground.

“What, like he wants you to be a sexy secretary or something?” _Oh shit._ All of my conversations with Levi suddenly clicked into place.

“I don’t know. Lunch was good, he definitely spoiled me. He asked if I enjoyed being spoiled, and I said yes, because nobody has really done that for me.” He started, hanging his head. “After I said yes, he put his hand over mine and asked me if I would like being spoiled _every day._ I’m not going to lie, he’s hot, but I didn’t know what to say. I froze.” I grabbed Armin and slung my hand around his shoulder. I took in a breath of stale New York air.

“Did he ask you to do any work for him?” I asked, mentally making a comparison between our situations. “Like, did he ask you to organize stuff for him?”

“That’s the weird thing,” Armin started, looking at me as we walked into a café, “He didn’t. He said he didn’t want me to work, and that he would be sure I got whatever job I wanted in compensation for keeping him company.” I gulped.

“That’s weird.” I said, nearly missing the chair I tried to sit into.

“Isn’t it? I don’t know what this situation is. He was being all weird during lunch too. It wasn’t unwelcome but it felt _too nice._ It gave me the chills. But he paid for my lunch and gave me some money in case I wanted to go to Times Square with you tonight.”

“Why did he give you the money?”

“Not sure. He said he wanted to make sure all my dreams came true. Like I said, it sounded really fake and weird.” I nodded, considering my options.

If Erwin was coming onto Armin and attempting to be a glorified sugar daddy, and Levi was previously “working under” Erwin, did that mean that Erwin was Levi’s sugar daddy? More so, was Levi trying to be _my_ sugar daddy? He had me doing work though, and didn’t seem very friendly. He kissed me in the elevator, but hadn’t tried anything remotely romantic or sexual since. In fact, he seemed even more distant.

Which pissed me off.

“So what are you going to do?” I asked, nervously bouncing my leg. Armin shook his head.

“I’m scared.” He peeped out. I sighed. “I’m scared that this is going to be a bad situation. I like to trust my gut, and I feel like my gut is telling me that these are all giant warning flags that I’m somehow running through.”

“Are you going to say no?” I asked. This was the moment of truth. If Armin said no to Erwin, I would be leaving Levi to his own devices. Or at least, I would consider it more thoroughly. Armin blew air up into his nose.

“I don’t want to disappoint you.” He said, looking at me somberly. “But I said yes.” The look I gave him must have been enough for him to believe I was going to faint, because he suddenly grabbed my hand and started apologizing. I shook my head and pulled away my hand. “I’m so sorry Eren, I’m so sorry.” He continued, starting to cry. “I don’t want to be disappointing, and I know how much I got on you about Levi. I’m sorry your lunch didn’t go well.” I stood up from the table.

“Armin, no, don’t worry.” I reassured, walking closer to him. “It’s okay. You just clued me into my own situation, and I think I fucked it up.” My voice started to waver. “I think I’m just going to be an employee.” Armin looked into my eyes.

“Do you want to just be an employee?” _Gulp._

“I don’t think so.”

“How did you fuck up?”

“I have no idea.” Armin shook his head.

“I know you Eren, you probably pushed too far. Did you push too far?” I nodded. “That’s fixable. You can work with that. Are you going to see him today?”

“I don’t think so.”

“You could ask to meet with him?” I shook my head in defeat.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ar. I think he’s pissed at me.” Armin groaned.

“If you want to inquire about the details of the situation, you have to meet with him ASAP. He’s probably going to know Erwin successfully… bought? Me or whatever. He’s going to be upset.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t immediately see the situation.” I felt like an idiot.

Suddenly, I heard my ringtone and picked up the phone.

“Hey Eren!” It was Connie.

“Hey Connie! What’s up?” I asked, smiling at Armin, who was leaning into the conversation.

“Our flight will be there around 5, Sasha, Marco, and I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out once we got to the hotel. We’re in the conference hotel and not in the fancy one you’re staying at, but I don’t think it’s that far?” Someone mumbled in the background. “Sasha just informed me that it’s like 2 minutes. How about some bar hopping?” Armin piped up.

“I’m not 21 you dick!” Connie and Sasha laughed.

“We’ll get you in. We’ll dress you up nice.” I almost teased Armin about how his new “boyfriend” could get him in, but decided against it.

“Sounds great guys, we’ll see you at 7ish?”

“Yeah! This is going to be so fun. See ya!” He hung up. Suddenly, my entire world got three shades brighter, because I had something else to focus on for the night that _wasn’t_ the fact that a beautiful man had basically left me in the dust because of my own stupidity. Armin let out an excited yelp.

3:00PM

It would be about 4 hours until we saw the gang, so I asked Armin if we could go back to the hotel so I could nap.

“Now _you’re_ the tired one!” He laughed, teasing me as we walked back. I was exhausted, I hadn’t slept very long and my social battery had all but drained when Levi made me walk out of lunch by myself. It was time for a good nap, and Armin agreed.

6:00PM

I woke up to the sound of my phone furiously buzzing and ringing.

“H-hello?” I asked, sleep still making it hard to form words. I heard Connie laugh.

“Get up dude! We’ll be there in a few; Sasha and Marco found some hookah bar that apparently is pretty lax with the ID’s.” I nodded, not that he could see me.

“When do you want us to meet you? Text me the address.” I responded, sitting up and sliding my feet to the floor.

“We’re not far from the hotel, so 6:45? Are you cool with being out late?”

“Yeah, we’re good! We’ll see you guys soon.”

“I’ll text you the address. Aww yeah, this is going to be _sick_.” He hung up.

“Hey Ar?” I asked. He was already out of the bed and showering. I got up and checked on my outfit, which looked a little too professional to go to some sleazy club somewhere to smoke questionable shisha.

I dug through my suitcase to find a slightly ripped pair of black jeans, a white shirt, and a black leather jacket that I had bought during my “cool” phase. To be fair, it still looked cool. I checked the mirror to make sure my hair was still in place, and took a tweezer to the stray eyebrow hairs.

Armin got out of the shower and put on a pair of khaki-colored jeans and a red button down. He looked good. He inspected his own hair in the mirror next to me, trying to decide what to do with it.

“I hate my hair.” He said to me, brushing it. I shrugged.

“Cut it off then.”

“What?”

“You heard me, cut it.” Armin shook his head.

“That sounds like a bad idea.” I looked at my own hair, and the trimmer I had brought with all the accessories _just in case_. Armin looked at me, as I was looking at the trimmer. “No, Eren, no!” He yelled as I picked it up and looked at my own hair.

Mikasa had taught me a few things about cutting hair, as she would used to practice on me. My hair was slicked back on the top, but the sides were kind of long. I remembered Levi’s undercut. Before my slow processing skills caught up to the nerves in my arm, I was cutting at the bottom of my hair, shaving it closer to my head.

“Eren!” Armin yelled, watching me. “Let me do it! You’ll ruin the back of it, you can’t see!” I laughed and turned off the trimmer, a big chunk of hair missing.

“Fine.”

That’s the story of how Armin and I showed up to the hookah bar with vastly different hairstyles than previous. Armin had produced some sort of “fade” for me, where it wasn’t really an undercut, but a style meant for the top being gelled either to the side or towards the back. I gave Armin an all-around trim, his blonde hair coming to where his chin was. I pulled up the back of his hair and gave him a mini-undercut so he could feel at least a _little_ bad ass. Both of us had lost a considerable amount of hair, but regained it in style.

“You guys look, wow. You guys look _good_.” Sasha said as we entered the hole in the wall bar. “I love it!”

Connie and Marco agreed.

“Thanks guys, it was a last-minute decision.” Armin said. True to Sasha’s word, they did not ID us, and we took a seat somewhere in the back of the dark room. Hookah bars were weird, a lot of them were dark, hole in the wall places with black lights and strange décor that landed somewhere between “I’m going to nirvana” and “my entire personality revolved around psychedelics.” I wasn’t complaining, I liked the atmosphere and the smell.

The server brought us out a menu with the flavors for the hookah, which was just flavored tobacco you sucked the smoke of through a tube, and a drink menu that I was fully intending on using.

“Uh yeah, hi, we’ll have 2 hookahs, iced, one watermelon mint and one straight mint.” Marco was a bitch for menthol.

“Can I get….” I started, looking at the drink menu, “Whatever you like that does the job?” The server laughed and nodded, taking our menus.

“Eren! Whydya want to get fucked up?” Sasha asked, cocking her head. I shook mine.

“Politics is stressful, I dunno.” I nervously rubbed the back of my neck. She pursed her lips.

“I feel like there’s something else on your mind.” I felt Armin go cold next to me.

“Honestly, there is, but I’m not sure how the whole situation is going to go down, so I just want to relax a bit tonight and let loose with my friends.” She nodded.

“That’s more like it!”

“So how was the flight?” Armin asked, sipping on a water. He probably wouldn’t order alcohol even if they hadn’t IDd him, he was too pure for this world. But not too pure for Erwin apparently.

“Eh, it was okay.” Connie started, “It was long and my legs got sore. Sasha asked for the snack basket like eight times and made the flight attendants frustrated.” She snickered. “Otherwise it was good. Marco fell asleep for the most of it, and I watched the window.” Marco nodded.

“All things considered; it went well. We got to hang around the airport for a while and got to see New York City on the way in which was really cool.”

“That’s great Marco! I’m so glad you guys are here.” I exclaimed as the server brought back my drink and our rigs. Connie got started on making sure it was smooth enough for us.

“So,” Connie started, blowing out some smoke “o’s” because he was only slightly tool-y, “What’s the situation at the conference? Who are these people?”

Armin laughed.

“There’s a lot of suits here. People seem to be nice. It looks pretty high stress though, and I know people are already talking about partying.” Connie fist pumped the air.

“Nice! I can’t wait to talk drunk politics.” Marco shook his head.

“I’m just excited to meet some new friends, yanno? It’s going to be cool to see students from different countries.” Marco was too kind for his own good. He had previously had a crush on Jean, but when Jean ended up going for Mikasa, he struggled to branch out. It was good that he was making friends.

“New friends probably have new foods.” Sasha said, inhaling the watermelon mint smoke.

“Ugh, Sasha, you eat enough as it is.” Connie said, irritated. They had been dating for as long as I could remember. It was a bit of a mystery how they got together- Sasha was very into cooking, eating, and talking, whereas Connie was really into partying, watching sports, and taking risks. How all of us became friends, I’ll never know. I was thankful that they were here though.

“I know but think about all the cool international snacks I can try! I can bring home new recipes, it’ll be awesome.” Connie grinned and laughed with her, sucking on his own straw of just straight menthol. It was passed to Armin, who took a tiny baby breath and quickly passed it to me. I inhaled as much as I could, holding it in my lungs so I could feel airless momentarily. Connie clapped for me as I exhaled and took a drink of whatever the bartender had brought me.

“Hey man, good for you, hit that shit. Make it your bitch.” I nearly spit out my drink laughing. I drank some more, unfortunately not realizing that inhaling tobacco smoke dries out your throat. Turns out, the drink was only worth five big sips, and was suddenly gone. Connie let out another heave of laughter.

“Dude! Waiter! We need another round for this guy, he’s a champ.” I groaned as he pointed to me. The bartender laughed and brought me another round in just a few minutes. I rolled my eyes.

“Trying to get me plastered, Connie?”

“No, but you did say you wanted to relax! You’ll be fine!” I nodded, hit the hookah, took a big swig of my drink, and eased into comfortable conversation with my friends about what they’d been doing at home since we graduated.

Marco was chilling with his mom and was interested in a guy named Reiner, who I only knew from high school. He was a nice dude, a little gruff, but really nice. Connie had been living with Sasha’s family the whole time. They hung out and worked at the same grocery store, so they had plenty of time together. Apparently, they were saving up to move out. Sasha wanted to go to culinary school, and Connie wanted to support her in her dream, so they started looking for new jobs near the city center near our houses for her career. It was sweet, really. He really cared.

I updated them on how I sat around for four months doing nothing but video games and eating microwave popcorn, only occasionally seeing Armin and rarely Mikasa and Jean. Armin talked about helping his grandfather renovate the house all these months, and said it was looking a lot less dilapidated than it used to. I talked about Jean and Mikasa, who were doing well for themselves and seemed really happy. I mentioned that they would be seeing us at some point when we were in the European portion of the trip. Armin talked about his robotics camps, Connie talked about the sports, Marco talked about this painting class he had taken up, and Sasha could _not_ get over the international foods. It was a fun night!

Until it wasn’t.

12:30AM

“I’mgonnapuke.” I blurted out as Armin dragged my drunk ass out of the bar. We had left Connie, Sasha, and Marco, who were all very responsible, because I had been stupid and drank copious amounts of liquor without eating beforehand. Armin tried to hold me up as I vomited into some lady’s flowers. _Ooops._ I laughed.

“That’s gross Eren, you knew you’d get trashed!”

“Yesh, and?” I asked, slurring my words and letting my head go loose. I had a headache from the nicotine and the cold air was sobering me up ever so slightly. I bent down to puke in the street this time, eliciting a groan from Armin and a “that’s gross!”

Armin stood there, waiting for me to finish. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and coughed a bit, but I was standing on my own.

“Do you need me to walk you back?”

“Probably.” I said, feeling half-shamed and half-proud. I wasn’t sure what it was about alcohol, but it really made everything feel like a good idea until you woke up sober and sick the next morning. For now, I wasn’t worried about my poor decisions.

“Alright, let’s go.” He let me lean on his shoulder as we walked the mile back to the hotel, which in drunk time was like four hours. In reality, it was about 20 minutes because I kept stumbling. We finally made it to the hotel and Armin turned me around to look at me. “You don’t look _that_ bad. Don’t puke in the lobby, puke now or forever hold your vomit.” I laughed and tried to cough/gag myself, and nothing came up, so I gave him a thumbs-up.

“Should I come up with you? Connie and everyone are still there and said they would be for a while, but I don’t want to leave you.” I shook my head.

“Go hang out with them Ar, go apologize on my behalf.” I laughed, too loudly, because apparently being an irresponsible asshole was hilarious while drunk. Armin shook his head and rolled his eyes.

“I need you to text me when you get in the room.” He ordered.

“Yes mom.” Armin groaned and turned around.

“I’m serious! I don’t want to see you dead in a ditch tomorrow!”

“There’s no ditches in New York?” I asked, watching him flip me off as I walked away. He was a little tipsy too, Connie had convinced him to get a drink. I smiled like a dork and stumbled up the steps. I nearly got stuck in the spinning door, but made it to the elevator safely.

Of course, drunk Eren had plans. Plans that he had just now conjured up on the elevator when contemplating which button to press.

Turns out, he pressed 15 instead of 10. It could have been an accident, but he would have to see how it turned out.

The elevator reached it’s destination, and I wobbled out, suddenly feeling a little queasy. I swallowed some spit and felt more comfortable before I walked down the hallway to make what was possibly the most stupid decision of my life.

I pounded on the door of room 1560, probably way louder than needed, until Erwin opened the door. I sneered.

“I don’t want to talk to you, where’s Levi?” I snarled as Erwin looked me up and down like a concerned father.

“Eren, you smell like a dive bar.”

“Where is he?” I asked, moving closer to the doorway.

“He’s in the shower.” Erwin replied, trying to shut the door on me. “Come back tomorrow, when you aren’t blasted.” I put my foot in the door.

“He’s here, I know he is.” Erwin sighed and I heard footsteps across the tile floor.

“I’ll take this.” Levi said, coming out in a pair of running shorts and an old white t-shirt that was two sizes too big for him.

“Who’s shirt is that, Erwin’s?” I blurted out, trying to steady myself. Levi looked at me with a look of pity. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“It’s mine.”

“Oh is it? It doesn’t look like it.”

“Where’s your room?” He asked, stepping outside the door and closing it behind him. He was so calm, so collected. “Let’s get you to bed.”

“Wouldn’t you like that, huh?” I retorted, crossing my arms. Levi sighed and looked at me again, silvery eyes lacking any sort of feeling whatsoever.

“We can discuss this tomorrow.” He said as he walked towards the elevator. I grabbed his forearm.

“You can’t walk away from me!” I said, voice slightly cracking as my drunk brain considered the fact I would never see him again.

“Let’s. Go.” He said, motioning me to the elevator. I closed my eyes and obliged. It was the slowest elevator ride I had been on in my life. We got to my floor and he walked out, trailing me behind him. We stopped in front of my door.

“Where’s your key?” He asked, motioning for me to give it to him. I shook my head.

“Not until I talk to you.” He raised an eyebrow.

“What do you want? You’re already ruining my night with your drunk antics.” I balled up my fists and closed my eyes.

“Armin said Erwin was going to be his sugar daddy and it all clicked into place that that might be what you wanted but I fucked it up!” I whisper-yelled, not daring to open my eyes yet. “And I’m sorry for being a little shit, I didn’t realize you wanted that, and I’ve wanted that since the second I saw you, but I don’t want to be gross and I don’t want you to feel gross and I just…” I started to sniffle and opened my eyes. “I just want to hang out with you.” He nodded as I held back tears. Why I was sad, I would never know. Maybe the outpouring of emotions.

“What’s the most morally ambiguous thing you’ve ever done kid? Steal a candy bar?” He asked, arms crossed and eyes icy. I shook my head and thought about it.

“I fucked my professor and let him film it for extra credit, and I’m pretty sure it’s posted somewhere but I don’t actually know.” Levi’s eyebrows raised. “I know, it’s gross, I’m sorry.”

“Have you really done that?” He asked cautiously. I nodded.

“Yeah, only Armin and Jean know about it. I needed to pass statistics and I’m not great at math, and he was kinda hot.” I felt gross saying the words, but I wanted to be honest. “What’s the worst thing you’ve done?” I asked, trying to suck up the tears my eyes were producing. Levi hummed for a second.

“So you’re telling me you’ve previously had a relationship where it was benefits and you consented to it?” I looked at him, confusion written all over my face.

“W-what does that have to do with anything?” I asked, sniffling.

“Just making sure we have this straightened out before I proceed.” My eyes opened wide. He was still standing there, glaring, arms crossed. “I feel like a shitty person.” He said, eyes lowering to the floor. “But, I’m not going to lie Jaeger, an arrangement like that doesn’t sound half bad.”

“Holy shit, really? Fucking awes-“

I puked.

All over Levi.

My eyes went wide with terror as I saw Levi look at himself covered in my vomit with more distain than an evangelical seeing a gay couple in public.

“What the _fuck_ Jaeger?” He asked, hesitating to touch his shirt. “That’s it, tomorrow it will be my own personal pleasure to ensure you never drink again for as long as you live. Get in the fucking room before I commit murder that I’ll disguise as negligent homicide.”

I put my hands over my mouth.

“I-I’m so-“

“Get. Inside.”

“I’m so sorry Levi, I-“

“I will see you bright and early at 7AM with our coffees. If I do not see you at 7AM with our coffees, I will assume you have no interest in me anymore.” _Was this a second chance?_ I nodded furiously and let myself into the room, where I slammed the door behind myself and made a beeline to the toilet. Honestly, at this point, my entire life was a joke.

I had gotten smashed in front of my friends I hadn’t seen in months, I vomited in some lady’s garden, I pissed off Erwin, and I threw up on Levi after being a dick to him.

_But._

Drunk Eren had secured a second day at work. Even though that second day started in roughly five hours, hungover Eren wouldn’t miss it for the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love writing this and i hope my late night writing is acceptable
> 
> as always, ily guys! lmk how you like it or if there are any super bad mistakes <3


	8. Levi doesn't always despise public restrooms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> conference shenanigans, hyena laughter, and wet ties wrap up day two of the NY conference

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO another 7k words but i pinkie swear it is PROBABLY worth your read
> 
> i havent written smut in literally 8 years. PLEASE let me know how this is, i really do apologize if it isnt up to standard, i tried REALLy hard. BUT this chapter was so much fun to write, and i appreciate each and every one of you reading this. all of the support and nice comments has my heart beating faster than eren's when levi comes within 10 feet of him.
> 
> as usual, ily guys, and thank you for your support! please let me know what you think, and if you don't feel comfortable leaving a comment here about it, feel free to message me on my tumblr: crumb961.tumblr.com

6:00AM

Four and a half hours was not nearly long enough to properly sober up for my second day at “work.” I sat up in bed, holding my head, trying to remember just _exactly_ what happened last night.

I knew I had drunk way too much, I knew that Armin had brought me home, and I vaguely remembered vomiting on Levi, but I didn’t remember any of the details. Instead of dwelling on my drunken mistakes, I opted to grab some ibuprofen and slam it down with sink water before I hopped in the shower. The hotel soaps were nice, I had to admit. They smelled like sandalwood, a much-preferred scent compared to the stale vomit and tobacco smell emanating from me. I had to toss my clothes into a plastic bag for laundry because they smelled _so_ bad. If you’ve never had a night where you could still smell your antics on your clothes, you’ve never lived in my humble opinion.

I washed my hair, momentarily forgetting that I had cut off a good chunk of it. It was much easier to wash, but it felt weird on my hands. _When did I do this?_ I had gotten way too trashed if I couldn’t even remember when I cut my hair. _What the fuck happened?_ I stood in the shower; concern plastered on my face. _Bar, Armin, Levi, what else?_ Turns out, there was nothing else, but my still slightly drunk brain was convinced that I missed something.

I twisted the shower knob to “off” and stepped out onto the towel that I had laid down as a makeshift shower mat. Rubbing my eyeballs into my eyes felt like heaven to my pounding brain, so I continued as I walked up to the mirror.

“Holy shit, Eren, you look bad.” I heard from the doorway. It was Armin, looking at me with both contempt and concern. “Are you okay? You should go back to bed. You went hard last night.” I shook my head slowly.

“No, I’m fine, I can’t miss work.” I muttered, grabbing a hairbrush.

“You’re still going after puking all over Levi?” My eyes grew wide.

“How do you know?” Armin sheepishly looked down to the ground.

“I might have gone to see Erwin afterwards.” I let my head roll back and looked at the ceiling. Honestly, it was pretty funny, so I giggled.

“Did you get some, Ar?” I asked, craning my neck to look at him. His new haircut looked nice, but did nothing to conceal the redness growing across his neck and face.

“No, he told me he didn’t want to do anything if I had been drinking.” I nodded.

“That’s gentleman-like.” _And somewhat unexpected?_ Although, Levi had also been very concerned about getting me home in one piece and hadn’t tried anything when I was in such a vulnerable state. _Maybe Erwin was a good person._ “Levi didn’t try anything with me, either.” I added lamely, grabbing my toothbrush. My eyes were focused on the pea-sized ball of toothpaste sitting on the bristles. “I think I was too drunk. But, I work today at 7.”

“Hey, that’s great! I would suggest apologizing sober though.” I nodded as Armin gave me a kind smile. He patted my shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay, obviously it worked out, right?” I nodded and shoved the toothbrush into my mouth. I tried to talk with the brush in my mouth, but it wasn’t going to work, so I waited the whole two minutes before attempting to respond.

“I will. I’m going to get him a coffee this morning. Do you have any recommendations of where to go? I don’t want to get Starbucks again, it doesn’t seem fancy enough.” Armin looked up to the ceiling.

“There’s a French bakery and café a little down the road, you could go there?”

“That’s a good idea. I wonder if he eats, I only saw him eat a tiny bit at lunch.”

“He was probably just nervous.” Armin reassured me, turning to walk out of the bathroom. “Hey, it’s 6:25, you might want to get out there just in case it’s busy.” I glanced at the clock. He was right.

“Thanks Ar, you’re a lifesaver.” I finished my bathroom routine while I mentally considered my outfit options.

“Oh, by the way, Erwin said we were going to the conference today. So, I would suggest wearing a suit.” I nodded. Armin had made my options very clear.

I walked towards my closet, looking between the clothes Armin had hung up for me to find a suitable suit. My eyes settled on my black suit, my red button down, and my black tie. That was a good outfit, right? I changed, grabbed my keys, and nodded to Armin as I walked out to the café.

6:50AM

I would never understand how it took so long to get through a café line. Everyone was ordering pastries or coffee; it wasn’t like they were doing anything terribly difficult. Maybe I was just letting my privilege shine, it probably would be a different situation if I knew what it was like to work there. I grabbed the bag of various pastries and the two coffees, with sleeve and green thing (although this shop had a brown variety,) and headed out towards the hotel again to meet Levi on time.

6:57AM

“Good morning, sunshine. How was your beauty rest?” Levi asked me humorously, looking me up and down and stopping at my hair. “You cut your hair?” I shoved the bag of pastries in his hand and held out his coffee.

“I’m so sorry for puking on you last night. I’m also sorry for trying to talk to you while under the influence, that wasn’t a good idea.” Levi made a “pfft” noise and looked inside the bag.

“Jaeger, we’ve all been there. I’m surprised you’re alive, honestly.” I rolled my eyes.

“You’re awfully chipper for someone who got vomited on by a drunk kid last night.” He nodded, raising his eyebrows while looking at the pastries I had brought. “I brought a variety just in case. They’re mainly for me, because I’m hungover and hungry, but I wanted you to have some too as an apology.” I gestured to the bag. “If you hate them, let me know and I’ll find something else for breakfast.

“I don’t eat breakfast.” _God._

“What the fuck _do_ you eat?” I folded my arms, hangover anger becoming apparent. He shrugged and grabbed a chocolate croissant.

“Pastries.”

“That’s the same thing!”

“Semantics.” I rolled my eyes.

“Whatever. What are you going to have me do today, your majesty?” He raised an eyebrow as he bit into the croissant. I watched him chew, he was so deliberate with every movement of his jaw.

“You’ve never seen someone eat before?” I shook my head quickly and averted my eyes.

“You’re just so… slow.” Levi snorted.

“I like to enjoy my food.”

“That doesn’t mean eating it like a sloth.” Levi shrugged.

“So, today, we have to go to the conference. All I need for you to do this morning is make sure my briefcase is packed while I get ready, and then you’ll accompany me to the convention center. Once we get there, you can either stay around me or go find some of your little jerk off friends.” He looked at me. “It’s up to you.”

“Okay. I can do that.” I agreed. He let me into the room.

“Glad to see you’re in better shape today, Eren.” _Who the fuck?_ Oh, right.

“Thanks Erwin, I’m sorry about last night. I went too hard.” I nervously rubbed my forearm. Erwin laughed.

“It’s okay. We’ve all been there.” Levi nodded and let out a “mhmm” from the bathroom. “I’m just glad you got some rest and didn’t come down with alcohol poisoning.”

“Thanks.” I muttered as I walked to the desk. I still probably smelled like a bar, but at least the coffee would do double duty to wake me up while masking the smell.

“Alright Levi, I’m headed out. I’m picking up Armin and we’re going to watch the General Assembly First before we go check out OPCW.” I heard Levi yell “Alright” from the bathroom. Erwin nodded at me. “Keep him in line.” I raised an eyebrow as Erwin clapped me on the shoulder. He turned and left.

“Levi, what do you need in the briefcase?” I asked, grabbing the bag off of the floor. He peeked from around the door frame of the bathroom.

“Any sort of files related to the General Assembly Fifth.” I nodded, which Levi saw right through. “Anything that looks financial and official that _isn’t_ a claim.” I nodded again, more assured this time.

“Got it.” I heard the shower turn on.

 _Don’t think about it Eren, do NOT think about his beautiful body underneath the shower water. Don’t._ Too bad. The images had already conjured in my half-functioning brain. I idly grabbed at the files as my conscious mind cooked up thoughts of Levi’s pale skin glistening under the warm water, small red patches appearing as the hot water ran down his chest. I imagined his biceps flexing as he washed his hair and his body, and oh, good God, his body. I had yet to see him shirtless, but I could only imagine what a treat that would be after seeing and feeling him on the plane.

Although he was only like five foot three or something tiny, he definitely gave off the impression that he could kick anyone’s ass. I was convinced that he could even take Erwin down without much of a fight. He definitely worked out. A chill ran down my spine as I imagined him carrying me and pinning me to the wall with his arms around my thighs. I wasn’t that heavy; I was pretty skinny with very little muscle tone. I had only been to gym once. _He could pick me up with ease._ I closed my eyes and gave into the mental temptation of visualizing him on top of me, grabbing at my neck and handling me like a rag doll as he had his way with me. I certainly wasn’t a virgin, but I felt like Levi had a special kind of kinky running through his veins. I wondered if he was rough, if he was a _freak_. I mean, he was already trying to fuck his assistant. _I guess that’s kinda vanilla._ _Oh god, I hope he’s not too vanilla._

“Jaeger, stop thinking about me balls deep in your asshole and pack the briefcase.” I snapped out of it just in time to watch Levi walk out of the bathroom with just a towel hanging loosely on his hips. I giggled because his hair was twisted up in a towel as well.

“Sorry boss, no can do.” He rolled his eyes.

“If you don’t pack the briefcase you’ll never get more of a view than this, so I suggest you get on that.” I nodded. “Also, I prefer captain, or something that isn’t “boss.” It makes me feel less like a gross old man I am.”

“You aren’t gross.”

“God, I should fire you.”

“What’s my severance package?” I asked, smirking. He threw up his hands and walked back into the bathroom.

“Nothing if you continue to act like a spoiled brat, that’s what.” I pouted as he came back out to grab his suit. He glared at me. “I’m not fucking around, put the papers into the briefcase, it’s not that hard.” I snorted. _I am though._ He caught on. “Christ alive kid, I’m serious.”

“Aye aye, Captain!” I yelled with a salute and smile. He stared at me, emotionless. Then, he turned back to get dressed in the bathroom. I smiled to myself.

7:35

Levi walked out looking like a thousand bucks. I couldn’t help but let out a sigh/whistle hybrid. He was wearing a navy suit with a white shirt and a matching blue tie.

“Looking good.” I said, nodding in approval.

“Don’t remember asking for an opinion.” I smiled. I saw just the _faintest_ movement on his lips. That was enough for me to consider that interaction a success.

“Let’s go!” I said as I stood up, grabbing the briefcase. I had calmed myself down in the new minutes it took Levi to get dressed, not about to have all my hard work messed up by dwelling on how fucking _hot_ he looked. He nodded in agreement, grabbed his coffee, and headed out the door.

7:50AM

Our walk was made in relative silence until we got to the convention center. I was immediately caught in a crazy lady bear hug as Hanji picked me up and swung me around.

“Hello to you too, glasses.” Levi said, crossing his arms to glare at the woman.

“Pfft, you know I love you Levi. But!” She turned to me, “I think I love Eren more.” She had the human equivalent of hearts in her eyes. I smiled.

“Thanks Hanji, you’re really cool.” She squealed.

“I KNOW! Thank you for confirming my hypothesis.” She twirled around. Today she was wearing a light blue pantsuit with black heels. Her hair was in a messy bun. Her glasses were just simple wire-rimmed, like my dad’s, but they looked really nice on her. They made her look smart and approachable. “Well?! Get on with it!? How was your night?” She asked, putting her chin in her palms as her eyes darted between me and Levi.

“It was spiffy. Thanks four-eyes. We gotta go.” Levi turned, but not before Hanji could grab my arms and hold me hostage.

“No!” She cried, pouting. “I want to know if you guys hung out more!” I closed my eyes in defeat.

“We didn’t hang out Hanji, sorry to disappoint. I went out with Armin and my other friends instead.” She pushed up her glasses, a glint in her eyes.

“Other friends, you say? Whom are these… other friends?” Levi gave me a small smirk, knowing that I did a fantastic job of getting us out of this awkward situation. Well, him. I got him out of the awkward situation. I was now forced to take Hanji around to my friends.

“They’re from college, their team is here somewhere. I think they’re in uh, GA or something?” I pronounced it like “gah.” Hanji laughed.

“General Assembly?” I thought for a second.

“Yeah that sounds familiar.” She nodded and scanned the room. She was tall, probably five foot nine or ten. With the heels, she was around my height.

“Alright kiddo, here’s what we’re going to do.” I ignored the “kid” comment. “Let’s head on over to GA1, and we’ll continue to move through them until GA5, which is the last one.” I nodded.

“I’m going to go find Erwin.” Levi said, turning to wave. He stopped and turned back around. “Hanji, do they have the mimosas out yet?” Hanji grinned.

“Yessir, I’m three deep already!” He nodded and turned again, walking out of sight. “Alright Eren, let’s head on over. But first, mimosa time!” She dragged me by the arm to the miniature bar set up for the “real” diplomats.

“Where’s Petra and the rest of the gang?” I asked, taking the cold beverage out of her hand. Mimosas, in my humble opinion, slapped. But I didn’t feel much like consuming more alcohol to wash down the alcohol that I had both consumed and expelled the night before.

“Oh, Petra is helping Dias the UNEGEEW. She’ll be out for break around 10, we’re meeting up for a brunch. You’re invited!” She squealed. My brain was still stuck on the alphabet soup she had spit out with such precision and grace. “Oh, it’s basically the women’s conference. Like, gender equality stuff around the world.” I nodded.

“That’s cool, is she really involved in that?” Hanji nodded and smiled proudly.

“She works really hard to ensure women around the world get the treatment they deserve. She has such a kind soul.” I saw her smile. She let out a lovey-dovey sigh. “I wish she was here with us now, but she’s not too interested in “boring stuff” like nuclear weapons and climate change.” She said, complete with air quotes.

I walked alongside her through the winding hallways of the convention center. It smelled like stale hotel mixed with sweaty teenagers. I tagged myself, I’m the sweaty teenager. Hanji walked so fast, even in heels. I struggled to match her pace. My legs were long, but not that long. Walking in dress shoes was also wildly uncomfortable, especially while still hungover and slightly queasy. My mimosa sloshed in my hand as we traversed the halls, making our way towards the giant conference room that hosted the General Assembly First. I believed that this is where Armin and Erwin were. If my memory served me right, _which it may not,_ this was also where Connie and Sasha were.

Hanji threw open the doors as loud as humanly possible, which in turn, created shocked silence from about 200 college kids in business professional. I slapped my free hand to my mouth to keep myself from laughing, as hundreds of eyes turned slowly to watch the madwoman I had come with slowly lower her arms while she walked with her head down towards the far side of the room. I gave a wave, because why the hell not, and followed her, sipping my mimosa as a tiny, silent, delicious middle finger to all those un-graduated students. It was actually neat to see so many interested kids in one place. I was certain all of them were ridiculously smart. I knew that my dad was one hell of a brain, and I could definitely tell that all of the adults I had come in contact with in the last 48 hours could put any of my college professors to shame.

I saw Hanji slow down in front of me. She started to wave, but thankfully didn’t yell. _The last thing I need is another wave of eyes staring at my hungover ass._ Erwin, Armin, and Levi were all standing in the corner, all with mimosas as well, observing the conference. Some kid from the Holy See was praying at the mic, and the Dias was slamming the gavel down trying to make him stop. I heard Levi chuckle.

“So, even though the kids are supposed to stay in character, they aren’t supposed to blatantly mock their countries. Right now? The Holy See? He’s pulling dangerously close to the Model UN undertow. He’s going to get an ass beating from whoever their head delegate is.” I nodded at Hanji’s explanation as we came closer to our friends. Levi looked at me with steel eyes over his orange mimosa. Erwin had his huge hand on Armin’s tiny shoulder, which made me more salty than I would have liked to admit. _Was it appropriate to scoot closer to Levi?_ I looked to Hanji, who shrugged, getting my drift.

“Hanji, Eren, good to see you!” Erwin said with his award winning, Commander Eagle, Ken-doll, plastic smile. As much as I hated to see it, Armin was grinning like a bastard child getting inheritance, so I had to grin and bear it for his sake. Levi said nothing, as per usual, as I walked up to stand near him. He leaned into me.

“You smell like alcohol still, dumbass. Are you still drunk?” He whispered, glaring at me, trying not to be too obvious. I raised an eyebrow and looked at him, then raised my drink to look at that. I looked back at Levi. He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Did Hanji give you that?” He asked, irritated at his friend’s constant antics and ass wiping. I nodded, and Levi swiftly grabbed the glass out of my hands, placing it gently on a table behind us.

Three loud bangs of the gavel, and suddenly, kids were _swarming._ I mean, absolutely running all over each other, yelling, grabbing, and throwing balls of paper to others. Some kids were holding up their country name placards as high as possible, with one team even daring to have the smaller kid sit on the taller kid’s shoulders. Two girls were running around, handing shoddily torn pieces of paper to anyone from a different country than them. I saw one boy crying in the back because the United States delegate was trying to bully him. Oh, the crying one was France. _Go figures._ I pushed aside my dislike of the French political system for a second because I saw a familiar messy ponytail that could only rival Hanji’s. I heard the telltale crinkle of a chip bag as Sasha came up to me, all smiles.

“Heya Eren! I’m _so_ glad you survived last night!” She said, jumping while eating chips. “Hey Armin!” She waved. Sasha took a moment to observe our crowd before turning back to me. “So, who’s the hottie?” She asked, throwing another chip into her mouth with a loud _crunch._ My face turned every shade of red that a human eye could decipher as I mumbled out meekly,

“Which one?” This only elicited a hearty laugh from my friend, who slapped me on the back with greasy chip fingers.

“The black haired one, of course.” I felt last night’s alcohol creeping up to my trachea.

“He’s Levi, he works for the IMF.” I left out the HR part, I figured I’d get necked for that one. Sasha indulged in a state of hero worship as she held out her bag of chips to the man of my affections. His top lip raised in a look of pure disgust.

“No thank you. I don’t need to be greasy for the rest of the day, and I don’t need to be having violent, chemically induced farts in here either. This suit is too expensive to potentially ruin.” Unfortunately for Levi, he hadn’t suffered enough projectiles coming from kids’ mouths, and my life became a slow motion, classical music movie scene as tiny pieces of Original Lay’s came flying out of her mouth. I could hear the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme song as the spit-soaked potato pieces stuck to Levi’s gorgeous suit. I really, really thought he was about to melt.

Instead of blowing up like some sort of volcano that had been dormant since the big bang itself, he simply turned to Erwin, and very loudly stated,

“They get better every year, don’t they?” He turned to look at Sasha, gray eyes giving her a once over. “What an absolute _treat_ you are. Whoever gets to be spit on on the regular is one lucky _fucking_ peach.” He turned around and walked away, sarcasm still thick in the air. Sasha looked mortified. Her brown eyes were peeled wide open, as was her mouth. She had dropped the bag of chips in the process, spilling them all over the floor.

Remember how I said that I didn’t believe Hanji could laugh any louder? I lied. Almost everyone in the conference room immediately turned to look as Hanji let out the most disturbing hyena laugh I’d ever heard. If you thought the hyenas from the Lion King were horrifying as a kid, Hanji’s sounded downright demon possessed as an adult. She put her hand on Sasha’s ponytail, wheezing while she tried to regain her composure for long enough to look at my friend.

“That was… Wonderful. That was the best thing I’ve seen all week, and the best thing I think I’ll see for the rest of the conference. Thank you for making my day four HUNDRED percent better.” Hanji doubled over again in laughter, Sasha’s face turning a deep shade of crimson. She picked up her chips, glanced nervously at Armin and I, and all but _ran_ away. 

I looked at Armin, who was looking at Erwin, who was looking at Hanji. Hanji turned to me.

“Go… go check on Levi, he’s probably stripping down in the bathroom, you won’t want to miss that.” That whole sentence was labored since she was laughing through every syllable, but it was music to my ears. I promptly turned on my heel and walked through the sea of collegiate suits to find the bathroom. Which bathroom, I would never know. I turned into one of them, but the door was locked.

“ NOT FOR CONFERENCE USE. “

Okay then. I moved on and rode the escalator to the downstairs floor, hoping to see the Chip Magnet Levi himself. Turns out, he wasn’t anywhere down here either. I almost gave up on my search until I felt my pocket vibrating.

**Levi: If you don’t get your sorry tight ass in the bathroom on the third floor right this goddamn second**

**Eren: Or what**

**Levi: I swear to fuvking god jaeger**

**Eren: Oh, no caps? It’s that bad?**

**Levi: 3 rd floor, now**

I rushed to my damsel in distress. Two short escalator rides, and I was pushing open the door to the men’s restroom, delighted to see that Levi had wet some pathetic looking paper towels and was dabbing at his shirt. Without looking up at me, he said,

“That friend of yours? She’s going to get an ass beating from her Dias.” I shook my head and came closer to Levi.

“You can’t do that because she spit chips on you, Levi, that’s an abuse of power.” I looked at his shirt and gently pulled a wet crumb off of him, only to be surprised as strong hands grabbed my wrists above me and pinned me against the bathroom door that I had just come in. Despite the fact that my entire life was resting in the Napoleon before me, I glanced around the restroom to make sure that we were alone. “What, need a hate fuck?” I asked, smirking as Levi’s molten irises locked with my own. _Fuck, that was the wrong thing to say-_

Actually, no, it wasn’t, because after the words had escaped my pretty pink lips, Levi’s tongue was three inches deep in my mouth and his body was pressed against mine. _Mmmph,_ I let out a tiny moan into his mouth as his tongue battled with mine for dominance. I had had an expander and braces in my younger years, but I guess the orthodontist hadn’t taken Levi’s experience and tongue agility in mind when he had chosen the new size of my jaws.

I pushed back into him, straining against his tight grip. I tried my damned best to fight his tongue, but he continued to beat mine down every time. His grip around my wrists was getting tighter, his body was getting hotter, my face was getting redder, and my pants were most _definitely_ getting tighter. I choked out a moan as Levi’s thigh pressed between my own, giving me _some_ semblance of friction where I most deserved it. He pulled away and pulled at my bottom lip with his teeth. Levi’s eyes were gorgeous at any time, but they were _especially_ gorgeous when they were filled with lust and desire. I gulped and tried to move again, but was only met with resistance and a tried and true Levi Smirk.

“You’re not leaving until I’m done.” He growled, voice lowering by three octaves. His hand reached between my thighs and his lips inched towards my earlobe, gently sucking it. “You’re going to be a good little assistant and you’re going to keep your back to this door, so nobody comes in when I’m having my way with you, you got that?” I nodded quickly as he sucked on the sensitive skin beneath my jaw. He nipped at my neck, pressed his hand harder into my growing bulge, and let out a snort of appreciation as he squeezed me in his hand. I let out a tiny yelp only to be met with a glare.

“If you so much as make a _single_ noise that could get us caught, I guarantee you that you won’t be walking out of here without a wheelchair.” I wheezed out the word “kneecaps” and was met with a swift and strong grip to my cock over my slacks. “Not because of the kneecaps, no, Eren, I’m going to tear you apart so wide that your ass muscles won’t recognize the movement of walking anymore. If you want to be carried out of here with a sign that says: “My boss fucked me in the bathroom,” then you can feel free to keep talking.” Any platelet that was left in the upper half of my body had plummeted down to my groin. Levi saying my name was the hottest thing I had ever heard come from anyone’s mouth.

He stroked me over my slacks, hitching his fingers onto my belt. With deft fingers, he unlatched it and I heard the metal of the buckle clack against itself. He chucked, low and deep, and let out a louder noise of approval as he felt my dick twitch in his hand. Of _course,_ he looked up to me with bedroom eyes. “You like that?” I gulped and nodded, closing my eyes, and biting my tongue in a vain attempt to be silent. His hand made quick work of my slacks, which were now around my ankles, his thumb rubbing over the head of my cock through my boxers, and the wet spot of pre cum getting larger with every second. I clamped my teeth down as he looked at me like I was the most sexy thing he had ever seen, which was honestly probably a lie with his own looks and experience, but it made my heart jump and my dick twitch all the same.

“Eren, be a good boy and tell me what you want.” He whispered, thumb grazing my head at an alarmingly fast rate. “Do you want more of this? Or do you want more of _me_?” My two brain cells were _not_ rubbing together at this moment, and the airlessness I felt at the hookah bar came back tenfold as the wind rushed out of my lungs. All my pathetic body could muster up was a squeak and a nod. Levi stopped. “What was that brat?” He asked, moving his hand away from my needy cock. I clamed my mouth shut and let out a few harsh blows of air.

“Levi, please,” I said, trying to be quiet while also trying to look like I wasn’t breathless because of his touch, “Please, I want more of you, please.” My eyes begged for mercy as he slowly pulled down my boxers, dragging the elastic over my length. Although satisfying in itself, I needed more, I wanted more, and I squirmed against his grip on my hands. He shot his other hand up to my mouth, leaving my boxers halfway around my painfully hard cock.

“Lick, bitch.” That was all it took for me to graciously take his index and middle fingers into my mouth. I looked him in the eyes as I dragged my tongue from the base of his fingers to the very tip, where I lapped at them and winked at him, _just for good measure,_ before taking the entire lengths of them into my mouth and deep into my throat. I thanked Armin for teaching me years ago how to ignore my gag reflex as I swallowed on his fingers, rolling my throat so he could feel the vibrations. And let me tell you—if you’ve never seen someone with blue eyes on some sort of psychedelic drug, you can see the same experience by turning on your light-eyed lover. Levi’s face had become flush and he was rubbing his own throbbing cock on my leg. I could feel it twitch beneath his slacks on my thighs, which made my own erection just _that_ much more painful.

I couldn’t take the teasing anymore, he either needed to suck my dick or let me suck his, or god forbid he grab my thighs and raw me against the bathroom door. I let out a very, _very_ quiet whine as he pulled his fingers out of my mouth and yanked down my boxers, my _very_ happy manhood bouncing in approval. I saw him look down and suck in a breath through his teeth. I smirked. “Like what you see?” He snorted and grabbed my throbbing cock in his hand, skillfully moving it up and down and twisting at the top like one of the Greek gods in charge of sexual function. I bit my lip.

“You better not make any noise brat, or else I’ll have to stuff your mouth shut.” I groaned at the thought of his tie shoved in my mouth. He seemed to get the hint as he momentarily stopped touching me and rolled up my tie, shoving it into my mouth. He smirked. “You look hot gagged, now I don’t have to hear you anymore.” I snorted as he grabbed my cock again, more roughly and with more desire. He slowed down again to look me in the eyes as he removed his hand from my wrists and slowly lowered himself until his nose was touching my tip.

My body shuddered as he let out a tiny, hot breath of air onto me. I looked down at him, while he looked up at me, just begging me to give him permission to eat up. I nodded and breathed through my nose. I could feel my tie getting slick with spit, but the momentary thought of going out into the conference with a wet tie was interrupted as his beautiful, soft lips enveloped my throbbing cock. He looked me in the eyes as he hollowed out his cheeks and slowly, oh god, so slowly took my entire length into his mouth and down his throat. I groaned and bit my tie, wishing so badly to moan and writhe in ecstasy.

His tongue wrapped around the head of my cock, the tip of it coming in contact with my slit. He lapped at the small stretch of skin underneath my head, and once again took the entirety of me deep into his throat. I heard him moan onto my cock, the vibrations from his throat sending my head spinning. I could see him reaching down to free his own erection, gently pumping it while still focusing on swallowing the fuck out of my dick. I groaned and tried to move. Levi removed his mouth, a trail of spit connecting us.

“What, you want more? Don’t want to cum in my pretty mouth? I was joking about you whoring yourself out, but I’d pay over two hundred to eat your orgasm.” That was it, that had done it. My dick twitched and my back arched against the door as a wet finger slid underneath me and ran dangerously close to my entrance. I clamped down on my tie, knowing that I was going to need all the force I could get to hold off the noises he was about to elicit from me. 

He traced the tip of his finger around my hole, his mouth still busy with my cock, and slowly slipped a finger into me, prodding around and wiggling me open. I tried to relax as much as I could, which was easier with the image of Levi sucking me dry. I heaved as Levi replace his one finger with a second, scissoring them to loosen up my muscles. My breathing got shallower as I could feel my abdomen tensing up and my dick getting harder. I rutted into Levi’s mouth, which only caused his fingers to dig deeper into me, searching for that little nub of pleasure nestled somewhere in there.

“ _Mmmmmph_.” I moaned around the tie, tensing my entire body and shoving my cock down his throat as he hit it. I saw him smirk around my cock as he released me and stood up. Man came prepared; he pulled out a lubed condom from his coat pocket before discarding the coat, and quickly rolled it over his own length. My eyes grew three sizes larger as I looked at the monstrosity that was about to be six inches deep in me. Levi was short, but only in height, and his muscle tone and thick build matched up with his dick perfectly. I mumbled something into the tie as strong arms picked me up and positioned me so that my hips were meeting Levi’s. He looked at me, eyes half lidded, lips plump from the force and suction he had used to pleasure me.

“Let me know if this is too much for you, we can stop at any time. I’m serious brat, I don’t want to hurt you.” I nodded and mumbled from behind the tie, praying to that entity up high that he would take it as confirmation of my wanton desires to be fucked into oblivion. He chuckled and looked at his watch. “It’s a good thing we’re so riled up,” He started, as he positioned himself below me. The head of his dick was bouncing against that oh so delicate ring of muscle and I begged him with my eyes to take me right then and there.

_Oh jesus, oh god almighty, holy fuck._

I groaned into the tie, thanking Levi silently for gagging me as his thick as a coke can dick spread my ass apart. _He wasn’t kidding._ I threw my head back, nearly hitting the door, and arched my back to get more of him inside me. I heard him suck in air and hiss as he slid deeper and deeper into me. “Eren, jesus christ, how long has it been since you’ve been fucked?” He asked, a gentle blush sweeping across his cheeks. I shrugged, not willing to tell him that I _usually_ topped. After this experience, I had a feeling I was about to become a die-hard bottom.

He lifted me up and dropped me down onto his cock, letting out a small moan himself before biting his bottom lip and looking at me with glazed over eyes and uneven breaths. “You fucking brat, your goddamn asshole is so tight that I’m beginning to think this was a mistake to do here and now, because I sure as hell am not going to be able to contain myself any longer.” His breathing got faster as he lifted me and dropped me down. I could feel his hips rutting against mine to go deeper and find the angle he desired.

“Lehfvi!” I mumbled, gagged and horny, as his dick perfectly aligned to hit my prostate. My eyes squinted shut and I tried to regulate my breathing in a vain attempt to stop myself from getting too close. It was nearly too late, my lame ass had been dry for so long that the mere presence of this beautiful man’s dick inside me made both my dick and my heart explode. I spit out the tie and grabbed Levi’s hair as I opened my eyes and gargled out some pathetic form of the English language as I came. Violently. All over our shirts. Thick ribbons of cum flew across both of us. Before he could say anything, he looked into my eyes one more time and gave a final thrust before groaning himself and biting down on his lip so hard he drew blood. I could feel his arms shake as he lowered me to the ground, pulling out in the process. I tried to keep myself from panting too loudly, but I knew that we needed those wet paper towels again. I grabbed them and rushed back to Levi, who had taken my spot with his back against the wall, breathing heavily.

“I’m so sorry that I came on your shirt, I am so sorry,” I mumbled, dabbing at my cum with a cold, wet paper towel, seriously hoping that it would look normal when I had cleaned him up. He chuckled and shook his head as he pulled off the condom and tied it, chucking it into the garbage can. He sighed and looked at me with the expression you give your lover on the morning after a night of raunchy sex. I gave him a half smile, genuinely pleased beyond measure, but terrified of the potential cum stains on our shirts. 

“Don’t worry about it, your bitch friend spat chips on me anyway. I’d worry more about your own shirt, you seemed to get hit harder. I looked down at myself, cursing because Levi was right. I dabbed at my own button down, _really_ hoping that I would end up without the telltale stains of a wild round of semi-public sex. Levi’s phone rang and he answered, barely even sounding out of breath. His cheeks were still flushed, his chest was still rising and falling with great intensity; he was just very good at being collected. “Hanji? Yeah, I had to take a shit, the grease from the chips did some reverse osmosis bullshit and hit my colon. Oh yeah, Eren is here too.” He whispered to me, “Say hi to Hanji you little shit.”

“H-hi Hanji.” I muttered, trying to calm down my breathing before saying hello. Levi kept the phone away from his ear, anticipating the second round of demon hyena laughter for the day. He grumbled something to himself.

“Oi, shitty glasses, I’ll kill you if you tell Erwin or anyone else. No, stop fucking laughing, it’s not fucking funny. Oh, okay, like _you_ haven’t had public bathroom sex before. _Sure_ four eyes, whatever floats your goat. Oh fuck off, he’s fine.” Levi looked me up and down, “He probably won’t be going for any long walks or runs anytime soon, but he’s in one piece, no blood. Oh god, Hanji, shut the fuck up before someone hears you. I’ll be right out. Bye.” He hung up. I didn’t even want to ask what Hanji had said. Levi pinched the bridge of his nose and slipped his coat back on, giving me a look over. He smirked. “Eren Jaeger, you really are a fine fuck.” I choked on both words and air as he ran a hand through his messed-up hair. “I’d recommend either running out to your hotel room now or sitting in here until I text you that she’s gone. If you don’t, well, you know her.” I nodded, still breathing way to heavily for my own liking. Levi must have thought it was amusing, because he gave me another lazy smile before pushing past me to walk out the door.

My two remaining brain cells still had yet to connect as I walked out after him and immediately faced Hanji, Petra, Erwin, Levi and Armin. The goddamn Curb your Enthusiasm theme played in my head as I saw all five pairs of eyes look at my shirt, and then my tie, and then my face. Levi shook his head and slapped his palm to his forehead.

“I told you to _fucking wait_ , but you did this to yourself, so show the world just _exactly_ what happened in the bathroom, huh? Why don’t ya Jaeger?” He groaned and pushed back Hanji and Petra to walk towards the doors. Hanji and Armin looked at me, both of their faces turning a deep shade of maroon in a horrible attempt to prevent a laughing fit. I closed my eyes, hung my head, and walked through the miniature crowd only to be stopped by none other than my _fucking dad._

“Are you okay, Eren? You look like you did after the plane ride here.” I blew air up into my nose as I heard Hanji shout out _“Like you did after the plane?”_ I put my head in my hands.

“I just feel a little sick again.” My dad nodded and looked at my friends, still standing there with stupid looks on their stupid faces. My dad gave a small wave and smile and decided to turn and walk the other way. “Be careful Eren,” My dad said, turning to me, “Please be safe.”

The motherfucker _winked_ at me. I heard satan’s pet hyena cackling behind me as my third brain cell fired up to form a coherent thought pattern.

Once again, my life was an absolute joke. My fancy politics friends now knew that Levi had fucked me in a public bathroom surrounded by high-ranking public officials and college students, Sasha knew that Levi was hot _and_ terrifying, and my dad… Oh god, my dad _most likely_ had some sort of idea of what was happening. I released my head and looked up towards my friends to give them a half smile and a half-assed wave. _I needed a nap._ On my way out, I double fisted two mimosas and walked in a dream-like trance back to my own hotel room.

Despite the numbness in my glutes and the overall opinion of the second day of the conference, today was another win in my book, which was ever growing with embarrassing stories and painful memories. My phone buzzed in my pocket as I was headed into my hotel.

**Levi: Nap time?**

**Eren: I thought you’d never ask <3**

**Levi: That’s gay.**

**Eren: ?? We ARE gay?**

**Levi: You’re a little shit. 1560, don’t be late.**

**Eren: I wouldn’t dream of it <3**

**Levi: .**

**Levi: <3 fine.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH GOD I HOPE IT WAS GOOD PLEASE TELL ME THAT THIS DIDNT SUCK ASS
> 
> IF IT DID ILL BE GETTING MORE PRACTICE ANYWAY, I WASNT GONNA MOVE UP THE RATING FOR ONE CHAPTER >;3
> 
> also, i really love your guys’ sweet comments :’) thank you for like 700 hits and the kudos. im an old dog returning to the fandom and it warms my heart to see everyone still loving it. please, feel free to comment and let me know how im doing, and seriously! if it feels weird or you have constructive criticism (or just criticism) or you just wanna say hi, my tumblr is open for you <3
> 
> crumb961.tumblr.com
> 
> ALSO SIDE NOTE: for anyone interested, i participated in MUN for 3 years in undergrad and saw my fair share of wild shit. youd think these kids are boring as hell, but the conferences get crazy. and yes, there was mimosas available and champagne for the professors/diplomats who came to watch. i always had a great time at conferences, so i have a passion for writing about it. now im an old fart in law school which i will likely ALSO write an AU about at some point. but anyway, thank you guys for all the support, it makes my day so much brighter!!


	9. Second lunch is a legitimate meal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just a big ball of fluff, lunches, and conversation, honestly. our favorites are all becoming friends, some of whom are closer than others

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i spent the day writing fluff because you know? why not. we shall return to the E rating tomorrow folks, but for today, i just really wanted my babies to have some good conversational time. im just a bitch for some long winded conversation and character building. it really puts you deeper into the universe the characters are in.
> 
> as always, let me know how it goes!

12:30PM

“Nggh, Levi-“ I breathlessly muttered as I stretched my long arms above myself. I had successfully made it into Levi’s bed, but not for sex, just for a nap. I guess we had the public bathrooms for sex. I knew all hotel beds were pretty much made the same, but something about Levi’s was just heavenly. Maybe it was the fact that his beautifully smooth arms were currently wrapped around me like I was a body pillow.

One of his legs was kicked up around my waist, the other between my legs. His face was pressed into my chest. his hands holding onto my shirt. He looked _cute._ Levi might be a massive pain in the ass when he was conscious, but he looked so sweet and content while he slept. I don’t think he slept very often from what he had told me—the dark blue circles under his eyes had only gotten worse since the airplane ride. My nose nestled into his sweet-smelling hair as I planted a gentle kiss on top of his head. _He would never know_.

“I felt that brat, I’m awake.” I jumped a bit, startled at the sudden voice.

“Jesus, Levi, you scared me.” I said as I pulled his head closer to my chest. I heard him snort from within my grasp.

“Let me go kid, I gotta piss.” I removed my arms, holding my hands up in a defensive position as Levi rolled, yes, _rolled_ himself out of the bed to land on the floor. I had to stop myself from laughing. Levi wasn’t what I would consider to be a “morning” person. He was remarkably even more unfriendly after waking up. The only response I got was a lazy head roll and a glare, which was enough for me to smile like the cheeky shit I was. Levi didn’t even bother to respond as he limped into the bathroom, legs still half asleep.

I rolled onto my back, eyes darting around the ceiling. It was smooth, there was no popcorn ceiling here. I guess because this was a classy hotel or something? It didn’t matter. What _did_ matter was that I was sleeping with a deliciously sexy man in a bed that felt like sleeping on clouds. I sighed and closed my eyes.

“Don’t you dare fall asleep on me, Jaeger.” I opened them to see an angry looking Levi above me. I rolled my eyes and smiled. He huffed and turned around. “I’m fucking starving, we need to go eat before my stomach decides to implode.”

“Alright grumpy gus.” I laughed out, standing up. All of the vertebrae in my back popped as I stretched. I heard Levi mumble “gross” from over by the desk, where he was picking up his briefcase and suit jacket. I put on my own, grabbed my wallet and phone, and turned towards the door. “Where are we eating?” I asked, hungry, shit-eating grin plastered on my face. If Levi hadn’t rolled his eyes at me, I would have assumed he was _actually_ angry, not just still in a state of waking up.

He shrugged his shoulders and blinked a couple of times, trying to wake up his eyelids. His eyes trailed down to his wrist, where he checked the time. “We have some time before the conference starts up again at 2.” He turned his head to look at me, the trademark bored expression settling in on his sharp facial features. _He is so beautiful._

“Well, I’m not suggesting anything expensive this time, in case you don’t eat again.” I meant that to be a tease, but the pillow that connected with my face notified me that Levi wasn’t in the mood for jokes. I cleared my throat. “How about some Chinese place or something? They have those in New York, right?” Levi chuckled.

“No, Jaeger, Chinatown is actually a conspiracy, it’s fake.”

“Alright alright, I don’t need the sarcasm this early! Sheesh.” I rubbed my forearm and walked towards the door. Levi followed behind me, making sure the door was secured shut.

Once again, the elevator ride was made in relative silence. I didn’t want to break the air. I kind of felt like Levi was upset about something, but I tried to brush it off while we walked out the door. He hailed a taxi and opened the door for me to get in, before sliding in next to me and giving an address to our driver. Instead of forcing conversation, I opted to rest my chin on my hand while watching the buildings of New York fly past us as we drove towards Chinatown. New York really was a special place; maybe a bit too busy for my liking, but unique nonetheless.

I would have still assumed that Levi was stuck in a bad mood if he hadn’t gently laced his fingers into mine as they were in my lap. I turned to look at him, but all I saw was the back of his perfectly cut hair as he looked out his own window. He gave my hand a little squeeze. I smiled, looking out my own window once again as the city started to morph into different architecture. Before I knew it, the taxi slowed to a halt and Levi had paid. My date (loosely considered) opened my car door for me, taking my hand as he pulled me out of the seat.

“See? Fucking conspiracy.” I laughed as I looked around the town. Most of the buildings had Chinese written on them, but there were a lot of tourists in the area. I recognized some of the writing, as I had tried (and failed) to take some Mandarin in college. There were a couple of churches, a lot of herbal medicine shops, a whole hell of a lot of tea shops, and a decent number of touristy stalls to pick up souvenirs. Levi’s hand still gripped my own, his fingers intertwining with mine, as he led me down the sidewalk. “Alright, so, how authentic do you want it?” I thought for a moment.

“I’ve really only eaten Westernized Chinese.” Levi snorted.

“Bastardized Chinese food then.” I chuckled and nodded. “You need to get out more, kid.” I turned to him.

“I plan to, as long as your old ass can survive long enough to take me everywhere I want to go.” I could tell that Levi was desperately trying to look disgusted, but the corners of his mouth were twitching too much. He relented to his own emotions and smiled the _tiniest_ of smiles. Of course, my dumbass smiled and squeezed his hand harder.

“So, what I’m hearing, is that I have to pay for you to travel?” I nodded and turned to look at the wealthy object of my affection. He wasn’t looking at me, but I knew that he would be willing to _actually_ pay for me to travel as long as I continued to be good company. “We’ll see. We’ll see how I feel after some food.”

He led us into a random restaurant somewhere down the street. It was a hole in the wall place, similar to the hookah bar, but it smelled absolutely wonderful. I _really_ liked Chinese food. A waitress brought us to a table near the window of the restaurant, our menus already out. I took a minute to scan over the various beverages offered as Levi ordered a tea. Okay, as much as I loved Chinese food, I knew very little about their teas or anything of the sort. Levi could sense my hesitation and ordered something for me before I could open my mouth. He smiled at me from over his menu, his eyes crinkling up at the sight of my cheeks getting red.

“What’s good here?” I asked, scanning the menu after clearing my throat. I saw Levi’s shoulders move up and down from behind the menu that was just a _bit_ too large to look normal next to him. I didn’t dare laugh; I wasn’t about to pay for my own meal.

“I don’t know.” He replied, gray eyes darting across his own menu. “I’m thinking about just putting my finger somewhere and ordering whatever that is.” I groaned, that sounded like the worst idea I had ever heard in my life.

“What if you get something nasty?” I asked, pulling down my menu enough to see his face buried behind his own.

“Then I’ve tried something new.” I pursed my lips. That was one way to think about it. “Not everyone is as picky as a child, Eren.” Although I could tell he was hangry, the way my name rolled off Levi’s tongue was music to my ears.

“Pick something for me then.” His menu dropped a bit.

“You want me to pick out your food? What are you, five?” I folded my arms after letting my menu rest on the table.

“You said that’s what you always do, and I trust your judgement.” He licked his lips and nodded, silver eyes right back to inspecting every inch of the menu. The waitress came back with a hot cup of tea and a teapot for Levi, and a colorful smoothie looking beverage for me. I looked at it quizzically, my eyes focusing on the black balls that had sunk to the bottom of the purple liquid. I shot Levi a glance, but he was pointing to the menu and talking softly to the waitress.

He was so soft with her. I didn’t honestly understand how his brain decided which people he would be an ass to versus which people he would be kind to. It seemed almost like Russian Roulette at times. I would assume that he would treat someone like royalty only to be shocked when he cut them off or made offensive comments about his own shits. Other times, I would expect a man of his wealth and experience to talk down to someone, when I was surprised by a soft, gentle voice coming from his sweet lips.

For myself, I tried to treat everyone the same way, although I had very little patience for _mean_ people. Levi wasn’t mean, he was rude. There was a stark difference between getting off on making someone’s day worse, and simply having no patience for bullshit. Although I arguably didn’t know Levi well enough to know what got him off in the wee hours of the morning, I figured it was a safe bet to assume that he just had a very low tolerance for specifically stupid people. I ran my finger across the rim of my glass before taking the wide straw between my fingers. Watching Levi was entrancing, it was better than watching a new TV show for the first time; better than finally eating the takeout you had ben craving for weeks. Every time his brain started to work, my heart fluttered, and my eyes focused in on the interaction. Every movement he made was careful and calculated, like he had spent years perfecting nothing but mind-body control.

“Ahem.” Levi cleared his throat as I shook myself out of my trance. “Do you like it, or are you just going to give the straw a hand job?” I looked down to see my fingers twisting the top of the straw before nervously putting my lips down to take a sip.

It was weird.

I didn’t gag, but I pulled away quickly enough that the man, the myth, the legend Levi himself laughed a little. “I’ll take that as a no?” He asked, raising an eyebrow while lifting his own teacup to his chin. I took another sip. Whatever flavor this was, I hadn’t ever tasted it before. The black balls at the bottom tasted like someone had condensed some sort of bean into one of those balls that could be found at a foot massage place. I tried really hard to ignore the slimy feeling of the balls sliding down my throat, and then proceeded to gag because I was laughing at my thought.

“If you hate it, you can tell me.” Levi said, smirking. I shook my head and smiled.

“I don’t know what the hell this is. It tastes like tea with beans.” He nodded.

“It’s taro root bubble tea, not really to my liking, but I know you like sweet things so I figured it could be a safe bet. If it’s absolutely unfathomably bad, they do have Coke here.” I shook my head again.

“It’s not bad, it’s just different. I like it.” That was a half lie, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. I was unlikely to order this by myself any time soon. With Levi’s company, it wasn’t half bad. Luckily, the waitress came back with our food.

She placed down a big bowl of what looked to be just normal fried rice in front of me, and some sort of strange looking meat dish in from of Levi. She handed us both chopsticks before leaving. Levi looked at his food and then looked at mine.

“You got fried rice, and I got whatever the fuck this is.” He picked up his chopsticks and started to lift up the pieces of meat. It looked kind of like brisket slices. He shrugged and brought a piece of meat to his mouth, smelling it first, and then letting it settle on his tongue. He looked around the room as he chewed, nodding the whole time. He swallowed. “Official opinion? Fucking delicious Chinese barbecue shit.” I smiled and attempted to use chopsticks for my fried rice, which didn’t look like it was going to work. Levi handed me a spoon.

“Thanks.” I said underneath a smile as I dug into my own food. It had more of a citrus-y flavor than most of the friend rice I had eaten before, which was most definitely welcomed to my an empty stomach.

1:45PM

The rest of lunch went well, much better than the first. We engaged in a bit of small talk during out meal, had a little flirty comments here and there. Levi paid for my meal and held my hand as we walked out. He let me walk around Chinatown for a while, so of course, I dragged him into _every_ tourist store I could. He humored me while I picked up keychains and lucky cat statutes, and he even let me take a picture of us together with fans in front of our faces.

Alright, I knew all of that was a bit much for him, but he didn’t seem to mind. Although his eyes were droopy towards the end of the lunch/shopping date, he toughed it out for me until I was tired as well. Unfortunately for me, the date had to end when Levi’s alarm went off that signaled the return to the conference.

It was okay though. He had let me buy a really cute puppy charm, that I didn’t think I would ever leave home without again. We repeated this morning’s events by hopping in the taxi, him weaving his hand in mine, and riding in silence until we reached the conference hotel.

2:10

“We’re late you piece of shit, lets _go_!” Levi yelled, waving both of his arms towards himself while looking at me. “We’re late to the conference and Hanji is going to have both of our asses mounted in the New York UN building if you don’t get your dick out of the sand.” I rolled my eyes and bounced up and down in line for my coffee. I really needed a coffee. I was exhausted already, and the day was barely halfway over. It took a lot of convincing to get Levi to allow me to stop into the Starbucks across from the conference center, but in all honesty, I should have just waited here alone and had him go ahead. He was so unbearably impatient.

“Eren!” The barista called out. As soon as that deliciously hot cup of brown liquid crack hit the counter, my hand was wrapped around it and my tail was out the door. Levi had already started walking towards the conference, so I had to half-run walk through the crowds in the city to catch up to him.

“Wait! Levi!” I yelled between labored breaths and pants. My legs _hurt._ I had nearly forgotten about our little morning tryst until I realized that my entire lower half was three steps away from disintegrating into dust. Levi was not waiting, because the next thing I saw was a shiny black head of hair pushing its way into the hotel. I groaned and slowed down to sip my coffee. I had just gotten a regular latte; I didn’t want to take too long. I guess I took too long anyway. I took a second to look around the city before pushing myself through the door. Not long after entering, I heard my phone buzz.

 **Levi:** I’m at UNESCO with Petra, Erwin and Armin are god knows where. Hanji is Diasing right now. I’d recommend finding your friends or something.

 **Eren:** Okay, thanks.

 **Eren:** Thank you for lunch by the way, I appreciate you humoring me.

 **Levi:** No problem. You’re a little shit, but for some reason, I never mind spoiling you.

I put my phone back into my pocket, beaming rays of light straight from heaven itself.

“Eren?” I looked up to see a familiar face that I was not in the _least_ excited to see.

“Hey dad, what’s up?” He smiled at me. He walked up to me and clapped me on the shoulder.

“Not much. How are you liking NY so far? I haven’t seen you since this morning. In fact, I haven’t seen Armin either.” I nodded, begging my face not to betray me with its chameleon power to turn beet red.

“Oh yeah, I’ve really been getting along with that group, uh, with Levi, Hanji, Petra, and Erwin. I think Erwin wanted to hang with Armin, and Hanji had told met to meet up with Levi because of his job or something.” I trailed off, attempting very hard to keep eye contact with my father, who nodded slowly.

“Well, that’s nice of them. What intrigues you about Levi’s line of work?” My dad was an honest man. A shitty dad sometimes, but an honest man. I could be an honest son and tell him that Levi’s job sucked ass but his dick was chiseled by Michelangelo, but I opted for the shitty lying son route.

“Well, he works for the IMF. He’s in HR, but he seems to have a good head on his shoulders, and he works really hard, dad. He does so much paperwork all day.” My dad nodded again.

“That’s neat, Eren. What about Armin and Erwin? I was almost positive that Hanji would try to steal him up because of their shared interests.” He rubbed his lengthening goatee. “He doesn’t strike me as a weapons kinda kid.” He chuckled as he looked at me.

“Yeah, uh, I don’t know. I think Armin just knows how to find the smart and interesting people. He’s also hung out with Hanji a bunch. We also saw Connie and Sasha and Marco, they got in yesterday.” I paused. “What have you been doing? I’ve only seen you a few times.” My dad looked towards the ground and then the ceiling as if he was trying to think. I suddenly felt nervous. This was odd behavior for my dad. Or so I thought, I guess I’d really had the most contact with him in years in the past few days, so I really didn’t _know_ him still.

“I’ve been communicating with one of my bosses about a promotion.” He stated, back at the goatee rubbing. “He seems willing, but it’s a high security position clearance, which means some federal agents will need to rifle through my personal life to weed out anything that might be compromising.” My dad turned to me. “I would really like the job, but I don’t want anyone digging through you or Mikasa’s lives as well. I don’t think you guys are hiding anything, but it makes me feel guilty.” I nodded and looked at my feet. Security clearance?

“What kind of job needs security clearance?” I asked raising an eyebrow. “I’m not worried about you, Mikasa, or I or anything, but I’m not familiar with jobs where you need one of those. Are you going to be like a spy or something?” I asked, half joking, trying to get a shimmer in my eye so that my dad could look a little less serious. He chuckled.

“Not really a spy, but just more secretive US government work. Right now, I work with international assemblies and organizations, but I have the tenure to attempt to wiggle into something like the Department of Defense.” He smiled. I was a bit confused. My dad? Department of Defense? I know he had been gone a lot, but from all I knew about him, he had been almost a career politician for most of his life. He did go to college and he had some sort of doctorate, but I was at a loss for what exactly it was in.

“I’m a little confused—Department of Defense? Are you a military guy?” I asked, both eyebrows raising. My dad blew out his cheeks. I realized how little I knew about the man who’s balls I came out of. _You’re picking up way too many Levi-isms, cool it._

“I’m not, but I have a few degrees under my belt in Chemistry and Biology. Unfortunately, with the way the world is working, it seems like more and more countries are getting their hands onto some pretty dangerous stuff. I think I could help out there a lot more than I’m helping here.” I nodded and looked out the window idly. That was cool, I guess. My mind wandered to where Levi and my friends were.

“I hope you get it, dad. You probably deserve it.” That came out a lot lamer than I thought it would. I forced a smile up at my dad. “I didn’t know you were into that kinda stuff, that sounds like Armin shit.” It was his turn to look idly out the window. I sucked in a breath. Talking with him was so unbelievably awkward. I thought talking to Levi was hard enough, but this was next level.

“Yeah, I guess I haven’t been around much to tell you.” He paused, “Ah, I have to go. My boss is probably waiting for me.” He ruffled my hair. I was twenty-one years old and my dad was _still_ ruffling my hair. “Go see your friends! Tell the gang I said hello.”

“Will do dad.” He turned and left.

 **Eren:** Hey my dad is trying to get more security clearance, is there anything I should know?

I hadn’t even turned my phone screen off before I heard the buzz.

 **Levi:** What kind?

 **Eren:** Fuck if I know.

 **Levi:** I’ll talk to Erwin.

I slid the phone back into my pocket and walked towards the General Assembly room to see if I could catch Connie and Sasha. As luck would have it, they exited as soon as I rounded the corner. Sasha’s eyes lit up and she ran into me at full speed, hugging me as hard as she could. Connie was laughing behind her.

“Dude, I seriously thought you died yesterday. Armin said he hadn’t heard from you. We were all really worried.” Sasha nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, Marco was freaking out. Armin managed to calm him down somehow, but he was especially worried. He said you seemed a little off, so he wanted to make sure that you were okay.” I smiled. My friends may be irritating and nosy, but at least they cared for me.

“Thanks guys, I’m good. There’s just a lot of stuff going on with my dad and some personal life stuff.”

“What’s happening? Personal drama?!” I recognized that voice. Both deep and shrill at the same time, it was none other than Hanji running up behind me. Sasha was grinning from ear to ear. They must have made up.

“Hey Hanji, my dad is trying to get a promotion. It’s just a lot.”

“Oh yeah? What else?” She asked, stars in her eyes. Sasha and Connie glanced at each other and then glanced at me. Connie was obviously confused. Sasha looked like she was thinking something, but was too unsure to say anything.

“Oi, glasses, why are you bothering them?” I _also_ recognized that voice. If I hadn’t, the pale color of Sasha’s cheeks would have given it away. She scooted behind Connie. Hanji laughed and threw her arms around the little man as he rolled his eyes. “So, the little shits are back for more, huh?” He looked at Sasha. “How’d your session go?” I saw her gulp.

“It was o-okay.” Levi nodded.

“It could have not been, but you’re lucky your friend here likes you so much.” He pointed a thumb towards me. I smiled, but it definitely looked forced. Hanji had somehow started to attach herself to Levi like a koala. “Can you get off me? You’re way too heavy to be on me like that.” Levi shook her off and she pouted.

“Sasha! Connie! Who wants to go get coffee? Eren! Let’s grab Armin. Levi! Grab Erwin. We’re all going to go out! We have a little break for a while.” Levi closed his eyes and sighed.

“I highly doubt Erwin and Armin and the rest of Eren’s jerk-off friends want to go to second lunch with you.”

“Actually, Hanji, I’d love to go!” Connie said, grabbing Sasha’s arm. She nodded in agreement. I turned to Levi as well.

“I’d like to go too, it might be fun with everyone there. We’ll grab Marco too.” Levi threw up his hands.

“Why don’t we invite the entirety of the conference, how about that? Jesus, I don’t know how you guys spend so much time with other people all the time.” Hanji snorted.

“Some people, Levi, actually enjoy hearing other people talk. Now, go fetch prince charming and the commander so we can all go enjoy some overpriced bean water, yeah?” He rolled his eyes and turned around. Hanji turned to all of us. “Ready?!” We all nodded. Connie called up Marco and he was headed over. Levi had gone to grab Armin and Erwin. Hanji said that Petra was on her way.

Once everyone met up in the lobby, we were going to head out. Except, by the time Marco and Petra had arrived, Levi was still missing with my best friend and his quasi-boss. Hanji looked a bit nervous. My black-haired freckled friend turned to me.

“So, Eren, I haven’t met your older friends yet?” _Shit_.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry Marco.” I shook my head. “This is Hanji, with the glasses, this is Petra, her wife, and we’re supposed to be seeing two others, but they seem to be running late.” Marco smiled and held out a hand to Hanji.

“Hi, my name is Marco!” Hanji stopped breathing for nearly 30 seconds as she studied his face. I felt my body heating up in fear of what Hanji was about to do. It could go a few different ways, but the most likely option was that Hanji was about to have a public freakout. As usual, I wasn’t wrong.

“OH MY GOD EREN WHY ARE ALL YOUR FRIENDS SO CUTE AND ADOPTABLE!” She turned to Petra, “We need this one too. Please, please please!!!” Petra softly shook her head and leaned over to Marco.

“Nice to meet you Marco.” He was blushing and rubbing the back of his neck.

“Thanks, I appreciate the compliments.” My poor, shy, freckled friend was blushing. To be fair, Marco was quite cute. He had that great “boy next door” quality. It was genuinely a shame that Jean had broken up with him for Mikasa. I didn’t mind Jean as much as I did when I was younger, but I still only _slightly_ resented the fact that my sister was into him. I knew she could do better.

“Eren, have you asked Levi where he is?” Petra asked, sweetly grabbing onto Hanji’s hand, “We haven’t heard from him yet.” I shook my head and noticed Sasha’s raised eyebrow. Connie looked like he was about to burst into flames in a fit of laughter.

“I uh, I’ll text him.” I replied as I pulled out my phone.

 **Eren:** Did you guys die? Everyone is waiting.

 **Levi:** You do not want to know what I just had to see. I need to go find the nearest store to go buy bleach, I don’t even care if it’s safe for my eyeballs.

I stifled a laugh.

 **Eren:** But you guys will be here right? You’re coming?

 **Levi:** I know for sure that Erwin and Armin have.

“Oh god,” I said out loud, tears welling up in my eyes. I started to laugh. “They’ll be here soon.” Hanji nodded, smirking.

“Let’s head on out to whatever place is closest!” She wrapped an arm around Petra’s waist. “I’ll lead the way! Eren, text Levi and let him know where we’ll be.” I nodded and followed along, trying to text and walk.

 **Eren:** Mind if I borrow that bleach? We can throw a bleaching party.

 **Levi:** Please text Armin more often for updates. I lost fourteen years off my life from that shit.

 **Eren:** Well damn, I’ll make sure to call the funeral home, since I guess that means by next week you’ll be six feet under.

 **Levi:** You’re a fucking troglodyte, you know that? If I hadn’t just walked in on the worst fake captain America porn scene I’ve ever considered thinking about against my will, I would be kicking your ass into the grave you dug for me.

 **Eren:** Doesn’t sound like a half-bad way to go out ;)

 **Levi:** We’re on our way. Don’t say I said anything.

 **Eren:** No problem Captain

I walked into the building behind my friends, who quickly secured a very large booth near the back of the café. It was one of those nice round booths with the fancy candle. I scooted up next to Hanji, leaving a spot open for Levi next to me on the edge of the seat. Next to Hanji was Petra, then Sasha, Connie, and Marco. I assumed that Armin would sit next to Marco, and Erwin would sit on the other end.

“So, Hanji, how did you get into this line of work?” Connie asked, grabbing the coffee carafe while pouring some into both his and Sasha’s cups. “It seems pretty cool! I really enjoy pretending, it must be fucking stupid to be the real deal.”

“It is SO fun Connie! Thank you for asking!! Well, you see, when I was in college, I was really into building robots. Then! I met Levi and Erwin, who wanted to go into politics. Erwin said I had the personality to be in politics, but Levi disagreed, and because I strive to prove Levi wrong, I made my way in here! I work on the Science Council. I’ve also done a tour of duty in the WHO and the Environmental Programme. I also-“ She slowly trailed off as the bell above the door rang. I had to cover my mouth with both hands.

Levi was _fuming._ Absolutely fuming. Behind him, Erwin was beaming like a motherfucker, and I thought Armin looked like he was maybe twenty seconds from passing out. The kid was _limping._ Fucking _limping._ It couldn’t have been any more obvious, or at least I thought it couldn’t be, until I witnessed Armin attempting to slide into the seat.

He winced. With every movement.

Luckily for me, I was saved from the social disgrace of laughing at my best friend, because both Sasha and Hanji let it all out loud enough for everyone else to hold their laughter in. My poor best friend looked like he wanted to be buried alive at the beach. Levi slid in next to me, anger radiating from his body. He was glaring at Erwin, who was chuckling.

“So, now that everyone is acquainted, let’s order!” Hanji said, passing around some menus. The café doubled as a restaurant, and though I had eaten not long before, I was ready for some more food. Levi cleared his throat.

“Hello everyone, I’m Erwin.” He waved to everyone. Not one person at that table looked comfortable. Armin held up his hand in a tiny wave as he looked directly at the table. I nodded silently and hoped that the awkwardness would subside soon.

“Freckles, what’s your name?” Levi asked, folding his arms while also scooting just the _tiniest_ bit closer to me. I felt his thigh up against my own.

“Marco. It’s nice to meet you, I’m going to assume that you’re Levi?” Levi turned to me.

“Hey, one of your friends has more than four brain cells, congratulations.” I grimaced.

“He’s kidding Marco, don’t let him get to you.” Marco looked nervous and tried to laugh, but it sounded more like a gargle. Connie snorted.

“When’d you finish your last round?” Levi asked, directed to Connie, who looked up at him confused.

“Of what?”

“Of chemo?” Connie’s eyes started to squint as he glared at Levi.

“I’ll tell you when you tell me where the last pot of gold is.” It was my turn to snort, which was met with a swift kick to the shin from the back of Levi’s foot.

“Acceptable.” He said, looking at the menu. Armin still had yet to talk, and Hanji kept glancing around the table awkwardly. _This kinda sucks._ I thought to myself, as I shrugged. The waitress came around and grabbed our orders as we all sat in relative silence. I cleared my throat.

“How was the General Assembly?”

“Good.” Sasha and Connie said in unison. I nodded.

“Anything fun happen?”

“Other than Hanji busting in this morning, not really. But, we did start on our working papers.”

“Oh yeah? Did you guys form a coalition yet?” I asked, trying to remember anything and everything I had ever heard about Model UN in my life. Sasha nodded.

“We did! It was neat. I met this girl from Australia, she’s so cool!” I nodded, not knowing if she meant the girl was actually Australian, or was representing Australia. I didn’t bother to ask. My mind was too far gone trying to figure out how to help Armin.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom, Eren, come with?” He announced to the table, loudly. I nodded and crawled out around Levi, which ended up being quite awkward, as instead of getting out and letting me through like Erwin did for Armin, Levi glared at me and made me scoot across his lap. _That sneaky little fucker._ I followed Armin to the bathroom. He slammed the door behind us.

He opened his mouth, but the only noise that came out was a gargled noise of agony. He grabbed at his hair and closed his eyes. When he finally stopped making that godawful sound, I came closer to him.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” He shook his head, then he paused, then he nodded.

“Okay, I’m sure Levi filled you in. But, do you know how _embarrassing_ it is to be walked in on? Christ, Eren, that was the worst. Levi wouldn’t shut the fuck up either, he kept yelling that his eyes were going to fall out, which got Erwin laughing, which made me feel _horrible._ ” I actually chuckled a little bit, much to my best friend’s anguish. He really had to laugh at himself here, it was actually quite a funny situation.

“Glad you got some, Ar. Levi doesn’t care, he was just giving you a hard time.” Armin groaned and put his palms against his eyes.

“I don’t care if he doesn’t care, I have to go sit at a table with everyone, with Levi across from me, and my ass _hurts_ Eren, holy shit, it hurts and I can’t sit.” I couldn’t contain myself and let out a Hanji-esque laugh. I patted Armin’s shoulder.

“What do you need from me?” I asked, controlling my breathing. Armin looked so sad that I actually felt a little bad about laughing. He groaned again and splashed his face with some cold water from the sink.

“Just… just walk out there with me and say _nothing._ ” I nodded and patted him again. “It’s not that I don’t need anything in particular, I just,” he paused and looked at himself in the mirror, “I didn’t expect to have to see everyone after. I didn’t expect Levi to come in. He didn’t even knock! Who doesn’t knock?!” My best friend was getting animated with his hands and he started to pace around the bathroom. “It was all fun and games until that. Now I have to go back and face _everyone_. They all know, oh god, they all know.” He hung his head. Genuinely, I wasn’t sure what to say. Armin was my best friend, but this situation was highly distressing for him, and I was a bit worried. I wasn’t known to be the best emotional support out of my friend group. Mikasa was a lot better.

“I can do that. It’s all good. I really don’t think anyone will say anything, and if they do, just laugh at yourself, everyone has sex.” Armin groaned again and pretended to beat his head on the sink.

“But like, not with some older dude!”

“Armin, it’s okay. I did the same thing.” Armin rolled his head around on his neck.

“It’s different.” I scrunched up my face.

“How?” Armin went quiet.

“Fine, it’s not. Let’s just go out there so I can eat my French fries and leave.” I laughed and nodded. We walked back together.

Luckily, everyone was into Erwin and Hanji’s conversation when we returned. Erwin slid out for Armin, and I had to crawl over Levi again to get to my seat. Everyone seemed to be normal, nobody said anything. I felt Levi’s hand squeeze my thigh. Soon, we were all laughing and talking about the stupid memories we had, sharing them with our new friend group. Since all of us came from different backgrounds, we had a really great time conversing. The rest of the hour passed by in record speed, and before we knew it, Hanji’s watch beeped and it was our signal to head on back. As we walked out, I felt Levi pull me backwards and lead me into the bathroom.

“Levi, I would love to eat your cock, but I’m like, stupid tired,” I started, trying not to disobey the man who had pleased me but trying to make sure I didn’t fall asleep during the rest of the conference. “I—”

Levi’s soft lips were on mine again, his body pressed close to mine. He wrapped his arms around my waist, leaning up into the kiss. He pulled away and looked at me through half lidded eyes with a lazy smile. “Thanks for talking to your coconut friend, he was really shaken up when I saw Erwin balls deep in him.” I fake gagged at the thought.

“Please, I don’t also need that mental image.” Levi pulled me closer and nipped at my earlobe. I breathed out a sigh and held Levi closer to me. “When did you get so snuggly?” I asked, breathing in the smell of his shampoo. He scoffed.

“I’m not.”

“Hmm, it sure seems like you are. You’re basically a parasite in bed.” I nuzzled him. He pulled away from me and gave me a quick peck on the lips.

“That’s enough of that romance shit for the day. I got my nut _and_ my romance, so don’t expect much more from me.” He said, walking away. I rolled my eyes and followed him out of the bathroom.

My friends were all walking ahead of us, so Levi laced his fingers in mine. I smiled. _Thank god I said yes to coming._

In more ways than one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as much as i wanted to write another smut scene, i couldn't. i was already 6k words in, and i was just too into building character relationships that need to come in handy later. it sucks when youre a long winded writer, because you just want to Get It Done, but your brain keeps going onto different side roads instead of just taking the highway. i appreciate the patience, i do love the slow burn, and i pinkie swear that you'll have plenty more smut and a little more of a faster plot in the next two chapters. our boys are going to have to move on to the next conference eventually! 
> 
> the comments are so sweet, i really appreciate them all <3 ily guys!


	10. <3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some more ammo for our E rating, a good heart to heart, and some mf PLOT. you guys get to find out more about levi w a little levi POV at the end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i owed you guys some smut, so here's some smut and some plot movement 
> 
> apologies for the wait, i spent way too long on my contracts homework and produced the worst piece of work i've ever submitted and got demoralized. i hope this is up to standard!

Levi and I returned to the conference a bit behind everyone else. Of course, he unlaced his fingers as we got closer to the door, which I had gotten used to. I understood. Levi worked a difficult job with difficult people; it wasn’t weird that he didn’t want to hold my hand where a bunch of international politicians could see. It made sense. It didn’t keep me from being jealous of Hanji and Petra though. They were _all_ over each other all the time, and it just _wasn’t fair_. Maybe my still-developing brain was just pining for a romance that didn’t exist, or maybe what I wanted was a legitimate desire. It wasn’t like Levi had ignored me since the first day, hell, he had met all of my friends and seen Armin’s ass. All of his friends knew my friends now. As I continued to think, I started to really wonder if there was something else going on in the situation.

I was definitely not underage, I had a degree, and I wasn’t in the same line of work as Levi. The only thing I could fathom being an issue would be that in general, fucking your assistants was not seen as a markedly “noble” thing to do. Was it not a thought that everyone had before though? Had none of these people had fantasies of having an older, wealthier, more experienced man ravaging your ass on a break from a board meeting? _I guess not._ Maybe I was the weird one out, which genuinely wouldn’t be surprised. I had always had niche interests, and I guess wanting to be fucked over the edge of a table by your boss was included in that bubble.

Levi had long since traveled further into the depths of the conference building. He was too short to see between rows of neat hair and black suits. I had opted to hang out near the front of the building for a while so I could check social media, read the news, and take a general breather from the amounts of social activity I had been having. Anyone would tell you that I was a social individual. I had plenty of friends throughout college. Mikasa had said I had that “friendly vibe” that people trusted at first sight, which was a fairly good compliment for an emotionally inept smooth brained kid like myself.

“Good afternoon, Dr. Pixis.” My head whipped around as I saw Levi, who suddenly came out of the woodwork, standing near an old dude. _Did Levi make the first remark?_

“Good afternoon to you too, Levi. How’s everything going at the IMF?” I saw Dr. Pixis smile while Levi shrugged.

“It’s good. The office brats are something else, it’d be nice to move out of HR and into analytics, you know?” Dr. Pixis nodded and took a sip from his water bottle. “It’s not that I hate filing claims and responding to destitute employees at the bottom level, but you know, I’m not exactly…” Levi gestured downwards with his hand to present himself, “the most friendly guy who’s ever worked for HR.” He lifted his coffee to his chin before side-eyeing me.

“That’s completely understandable. You know, if you hadn’t wanted to get out from the OPCW paper pushers so quickly, we probably could have lined something up that was a little more attuned to your tastes.” Levi paused his drinking, soaking in the words that had just come out of Dr. Pixis’ mouth.

“Hmm.” He replied, drinking again. “I think it was for the best that I moved when I did.” Dr. Pixis nodded slowly.

“I think so as well. Both you and Erwin seem a lot less tense, I’ve noticed you’re both in good spirits. It’s the same attitudes that you both shared when you first started to work together.” I saw Levi swallow.

“Being in a different location does shit to you, it makes it more bearable.” I heard a hearty laugh from the doctor as he turned around to walk away.

“Have a good day Levi, we’ll talk in DC about your next steps.”

_Buzz_

**Levi:** Are you done staring?

I looked up from my phone to see Levi standing in front of me. I yelped, of course, because what else do you do when a terrifyingly short, yet beautiful man appears less than five inches from your face? He didn’t look so happy. His eyelids were lowered, the bags under his eyes reaching the size of those blue IKEA ones.

“Are you okay?” I asked tentatively, hoping that he wasn’t going to punch me in the mouth. It looked like he was going to punch me in the mouth. We had been through a lot, his dick had been up my ass, and we kissed in some café bathroom, but I knew deep down that Levi would never treat me any different than anyone else who pissed him off.

“Not especially, because all of these fucking shitty suits are _always_ in my goddamn business, Eren. Always.” Levi pinched the bridge of his nose as I watched his face cycle through a multitude of expressions. “I can’t believe they stuck me in HR and then have the gall to tell me it would have been better if I had waited to leave the position Erwin had given me. _God._ Let me fucking breathe.” He sighed. I nodded, refraining from touching him in any capacity.

“If you need to talk, you can vent to me?” I replied, although it came out as more of a question that was met with an icy stare.

“I don’t want to discuss my personal work life with a kid who has more experience mowing lawns than having an adult job.” He sighed again. “You honestly wouldn’t understand, hell, nobody understands. The basic gist of the situation is that Erwin hired me to be his “assistant,” Levi said, with air quotes, “And somehow got me a legitimate position right beneath him. I don’t know what strings he pulled, but I applied for every position under the sun to leave him, and every single application got denied.

“I tried calling people, showing up to offices, literally anything that would give me an out. Erwin wasn’t a nice boss, Eren, he was horrible. Not only did he use me, but he made me feel like I was special while keeping me chained to his side by telling the higher-ups that I was a “shitty employee,” or “disorganized and unreliable.” Let me tell you,” Levi pointed to me, lips curling back into a snarl, “I worked so goddamn fucking hard to leave. I never missed a day. I showed up early. I did whatever, and I mean _whatever_ Erwin wanted from me. If it hadn’t been for the new guy at the IMF that I somehow cornered in some hotel in LA, I would still be waiting on hands and knees for Erwin.”

Levi put his hand to his forehead. “I need a smoke. Do you want a smoke kid? Let’s get you a smoke.” I started to shake my head, but he had already begun walking. Like the good assistant I was, I followed him. It was a lot to think about. I guess Levi knew what he was doing, but only because it had been done to him. Erwin seemed gross, and predatory, but not possessive like that. I wasn’t about to invalidate Levi; I didn’t believe he could lie to me even if he used every ounce of strength he had. As much as I wanted to be disgusted by the situation, I couldn’t help but feel my stupid heart flutter at the thought of waiting on Levi hand and foot. I really wanted to hear him tell me I was a good employee, or give me some sort of praise, instead of creative insults or occasional moments of affection.

We walked around to the side of the building, where Levi handed me a cigarette. He lit it for me and put it between my fingers. I watched him take the longest drag I’ve ever seen someone take in my entire life before blowing it out his nose slowly. He had closed his eyes, the sweet smell of menthol cigarettes floating around him. I wasn’t about to tell him I hated cigarettes and wasn’t big on smoking, but I also didn’t want to waste any of his cigarettes, so I took a baby drag tried to channel my inner “cool guy.” Levi snorted while gazing across the street. At me? Maybe. It was more likely he had more to say.

“I feel bad.” He admitted, eyes straining to focus on the building. “I never feel bad. I don’t want you to end up in my position, but Erwin was right—it does feel good to have an arrangement like this.” He took another drag. “Are you happy?” He turned to me, face blank. I held in a cough from the cigarette smoke.

“I mean, yeah, I guess.” He nodded and looked away. “Ah, no, I am happy. I like doing things for you, and I like doing things with you. I wouldn’t have come to see you hungover as a motherfucker with less than four hours of sleep still drunk if I _didn’t_ like hanging out with you.”

“That’s the thing though, brat, you aren’t hanging out with me. You’re doing things for me. That’s not the same.” I thought for a moment. Levi had a point, but that didn’t explain some of the things he did.

“You buy me shit. You parade me around and pay for my food. You walked around Chinatown with me for an hour. All I’ve really done was organize your paperwork and grab you coffee in the mornings—”

“And look cute.”

“Yeah that too, but that’s always how I am, that’s not something I do just for you.” I smirked.

“Oh really?” Levi asked, taking his last drag and putting out his cigarette butt with his foot. “So you’re saying that you do nothing special for me?” He had that glint in his eye that both scared me and aroused me. Maybe it was the nicotine and adrenaline, but I was feeling spicy. Tired, but spicy.

“I could, but you’d have to follow me.” This was it, this was it boys. The moment of truth. I saw the edges of Levi’s mouth curve upwards as he looked at me.

“Then show me where to go.”

_Five minutes later_

Levi had followed me up to the third floor of the conference hotel, where I led him back through winding hallways to a small room that I had found that locked from the inside. I was still feeling spicy, but had gotten a lot more nervous, evidenced by the way my palms slid on the doorknob. _I thought we were done with the profuse sweating?_ I willed my body to reabsorb the liquid as I locked the door behind us and pushed Levi onto the conference table. He looked up at me playfully, like he didn’t believe I was capable.

“What, you don’t think I can do things for you?” I asked, trailing my fingers along the seam on Levi’s inner thigh. “You don’t think I can be special for just you?” I ran my other hand over his tie, where I gave it a light pull. “You aren’t the only one who can suck a mean dick, you know.” I said, sensual smile and everything. I really laid it on thick here. I felt him shudder underneath me, but his face gave no indication of anything but boredom. _You wanna play this game? Fine, we’ll fucking play._

I removed my hands from his thighs and untied my own tie. Levi raised an eyebrow to me, to which I held up a finger in front of my lips. He opened his mouth to say something, and I shoved two of my fingers into the “o” shape his pretty pink lips made. I shook my head, raising my chin in a semi-cringey attempt to show my dominance. As a quick note, I had mainly been a top for most of my life, but it was hard to channel that energy standing in front of Levi. He made me feel so vulnerable and wanted that thinking of having total control over him felt like giving a thesis presentation in front of grad school recruiters. 

I slipped the tie around his head and over his eyes. He was sucking on my fingers, saliva pooling in the corners of his mouth, threatening to spill from his lips. “Good boy.” I whispered roughly, tightening the tie around his eyes. I pulled on his own tie, tightening it a bit around his neck, praying it wouldn’t leave a red mark on that pretty porcelain skin of his. “Is this what you want? You want me to only please you?” I heard Levi’s breath shorten as he started to move. I clamped both of my hands on his hipbones, keeping him on top of the table. “You better stop moving if you want this.” I replied, waiting for him to nod before continuing.

I slid one of my hands back down to his thighs and used the other to remove his suit coat. His thighs were soft, but strong, and I took my sweet-ass time kneading every inch of skin and muscle underneath those all-too-tight slacks. I grabbed his chin in my hand and licked his bottom lip, to which he opened his mouth, where I shoved my fingers back in. “That’s right, lick them, suck on them. Show me what you want to be doing to me.” He licked a stripe from the bottom of my palm to the tip of my middle finger before flawlessly taking them down to the last knuckle in his throat. I suppressed a groan as I undid my own belt and moved to his. I pulled my fingers out of his mouth with a lewd “pop,” and trailed kisses over his dress shirt as I unbuckled his belt and unbuttoned his pants. I felt hit breath hitch as I released him from the confining fabric, his erection straining against black boxers.

“I’m very special, aren’t I?” I chuckled as I steadied one hand on his hip and leaned down to study the length in front of me. “If you just thought I was another assistant, I don’t think you’d be this excited to have me shoving my fingers in your mouth.” I heard him clamp his mouth down on a moan. “And you call _me_ the slut.” I teased as I tongued him through his boxers. He started to squirm, so I strengthened my grip on his hip. I pulled the waistband of his boxers down with my teeth, Levi standing tall and proud. Again, just because a man is short does _not_ mean he isn’t packing some serious heat. I took a minute to steady my own breath before I snuck a hand up his dress shirt to grab at an already hard nipple. I chuckled again.

“I don’t think _I’m_ the whore here, Levi.” I rubbed the delicate skin between my thumb and forefinger, rolling it. I released to trail my hand around his chest, feeling every crevice and goose bump. His other nipple was pert and at attention as well; I traced circles around it as to not discriminate. He bucked his hips upwards. I removed my touch from his chest, which elicited a whine, letting out a small laugh. “How bad do you want this?” I asked, unbuttoning each button on his shirt slowly to reveal his perfectly toned chest. I sucked on a nipple while letting my hand trail down from his belly button to his cock, using his happy trail as guidance. I rubbed my finger over the top of his head while flicking his nipple with my tongue. I felt one of his hands run through my hair.

“You… Fucking brat…” He choked out as my entire hand wrapped around his length. I momentarily left his chest to let spit drip onto my hand while I pumped my hand up and down him.

“What was that?” I asked, breathlessly, as I stroked his impressive cock. I thumbed at his slit, dripping with precum, and bit at one of his nipples. “What did you call me? May I remind you that you’re,” I bit down harder and continued through my teeth, “The little whore here?” He tugged at my hair harder and bit on his lip, rutting his hips up into my hand for more friction. I kissed the middle of his chest and released a hot breath onto his cock. He stiffened, letting out a tiny whine as I kissed the head of his cock and lapped at his precum.

I felt him shoving my head down onto him, so I grabbed at his tie around his neck to encourage him to loosen his grip on my hair. Unfortunately for me, _gentle persuasion_ didn’t seem to have an effect on how hard he was trying to facefuck me, so I pulled at his tie while he continued to hit the back of my neck with his cock. I groaned on his dick, nearly gagging at the force he was thrusting into me. Spit was dripping out of my mouth as I tried desperately to breathe in between his thrusts. I looked up at him, momentarily forgetting he was blindfolded, to be met with a _sinful_ grin. I grabbed his slacks and pulled them all the way to the ground and shoved my fingers back into his mouth.

“Lick, how much lube you get is on you.” He grunted as he appreciatively covered my digits in spit, making sure to give them a good liberal coating. I continued to suck him off as I worked to spread his legs and shimmy my own pants to the ground. I had started stroking myself to the timing of his thrusts into my mouth, but I wanted more. I spit on my own hand and slicked myself up before grabbing a condom out of Levi’s coat pocket. _He had like, five in there._ I pulled my fingers out of his mouth, leaving him panting and blushing. I pushed him back lightly and pulled his hips towards me at the edge of the conference table. He let out a quiet moan and bucked his hips into the air. I made one final round of spit on my fingers before trailing them downwards to his entrance, tracing the muscle and teasingly pressing on it while giving his cock the attention from my mouth it deserved.

“You’re so pretty like this, Levi.” I mewled, grabbing him with my other hand and stroking him while I pressed my middle finger into his heat. “Tell me what you want.” He grunted as I slid into him up to my last knuckle, twisting around my finger to loosen him up.

“You’re…. you’re a little shit…” He said, stopping abruptly as I pulled my finger from his hole only to spit on it again and replace it with two of my fingers. He hissed through his teeth and I gave his cock a more aggressive tug.

“Don’t call me a little shit if you want to be able to walk back to the conference.” I heard him growl as he tried to sit up on the table, only to be stopped as my middle finger reached the bundle of nerves buried deep inside him. “That’s right.” I whispered, continually flicking my middle finger over the rougher patch of skin inside him. He leaned back onto the table and bit his hand to suppress a loud moan. I pulled my fingers out again, spit on them a third time, and inserted three, which was a wonderful idea, as I got to see Levi writhe around on the table. He was panting, his cheeks were red, his chest was splotchy and flushed, and his cock was twitching with every movement.

I scissored my fingers apart and used my other hand to locate the condom. “I think you’re ready, do _you_ think you’re ready?” I asked, tearing open the silver package with my teeth. He nodded quickly. “Good boy.” I rolled the condom over my own neglected erection, spit to give Levi a little extra lube, _we should really start carrying some,_ and pushed the head of my cock near the stretched out ring. He tensed up a little, so I made sure to pay attention to his twitching dick, slowly pumping it with a tighter grip. As soon as I felt his body loosen, I pushed into his warmth.

Short dudes may have big dicks, but their assholes are tight. I bit my lip as I let out a moan as I stretched him open. He was drawing blood from his hand at this point. I settled myself inside him and pulled his legs up to rest over my arms and shoulders. “Sufficiently opened?” I asked cheekily, earning a nod and a whine. I rolled my hips up into him, pulling him closer to me at the same time.

“O-oh god, Eren, your dick is massive, what the fuck?” Levi groaned out through labored breaths. I laughed because he had most definitely already sucked my dick and knew what I had going on. I leaned down to suck on his ear.

“You already knew this, old man.” I heard Levi growl and I rolled my hips again, trying to angle myself _just right_ to hit his prostate. I positioned my hands on his thighs to pull him into me as I thrust into him, picking up my pace as he took it upon himself to stroke his twitching cock. I was already _so_ close to the edge. Watching my lover touch himself, face flushed, while I was abusing his prostate was the hottest thing I’d ever witnessed. I groaned as I thrust deeper into him, biting my lip to hold off my own orgasm. I slapped his hand away, grabbed his needy cock, and stroked him in time with my thrusts, precum spilling out of his slit. I rubbed my thumb in it for some extra slick as we continued.

I heard the table creaking underneath us as my thrusts got more erratic and shallower, my dick pulsating inside Levi’s tight, wet hole. My breathing was ragged, as was Levi’s, and I wasn’t certain how much longer I’d be able to last seeing him in this position. “You feel so good, Levi,” I groaned, “I’m gonna cum, I’m so—” I heard Levi let out an unholy gargling noise as he came all over himself while pulling at his own tie to choke himself while he rode out his orgasm. _Holy fuck_. I leaned down and moaned as I released inside him, my cock twitching and pulsing against his tight walls. My entire vision went white while my ears let out that piercing static-y sound for a good twenty seconds.

Levi pulled off his blindfold, revealing tired, blown pupils, the _ultimate_ bedroom eyes. His cheeks were still a cute pink color, and despite the fact that his hand was bleeding and he was drooling all over himself, he still looked fairly professional. I pulled out, wishing for nothing more than to slump over top of him, but I remembered that he had cum all over his chest and I still had a dress shirt on. I tied the condom and shoved it back into the package, wrapping it in tissue for good measure before depositing it into the garbage can. My breathing was still labored as I grabbed another tissue to wipe him off. I felt a hand on my chest.

“Lick it off me.” I gulped and bent down to his chest, looking into his silvery eyes as I lapped up the remnants of his orgasm. I felt him shudder below me as I ate the last remaining drop. Wiping my mouth with my hand, I looked down at him through half lidded eyes and gave him a smirk. He blushed, glaring at me. “I’m never bottoming again.” He said, slowly sitting up while evaluating the amount of soreness in his lower half. I snorted.

“I dunno, seeing you choke yourself was pretty hot. You gonna top and let me choke you?” I asked cheekily, pulling up my pants to ready myself for the rest of the day. He groaned. I grabbed my tie to re-tie it.

“You didn’t see that.” He muttered, buttoning his shirt. “You saw _nothing._ ” I laughed.

“I saw you drawing blood from your hand to prevent any noise from coming out of you, and I saw you _aggressively_ cutting off your own airflow while you came. I don’t wanna hear it, you’re going to do that again.” He grumbled something and stood up on shaky legs.

“Time for a second smoke,” he started, re-organizing himself to be reacquainted with the real world. “I need another smoke, and you need to learn how to properly smoke. Let’s go.” He mumbled something else as he all but limped to the door.

Much to our luck, there wasn’t anyone up there; we had been _relatively_ quiet. The walk down to the main level was made in silence as per usual. He held up a hand to Hanji as we passed her and the rest of our group. We were the only two missing. Hanji snorted loudly as we walked by; I winked at her and the group. Sasha and Connie’s faces were drained of all blood, Armin’s eyes grew to three times their normal size, Marco’s entire upper body was bright red, and Erwin looked like he had been genuinely caught off guard. We continued to walk to the side of the building, where I was once again handed a cigarette.

“Never again am I bottoming, Jaeger.” Levi said, rolling his eyes while facing the building across the street. I laughed. I hadn’t expected him to be okay with being fucked in the first place, so if this was the only time that was going to happen, I would remember it fondly. I took a drag from the cigarette I was given, trying to emulate Levi. I saw him smirk out of the corner of my eye as we both faced the strange brutalist building across the street.

_Three days later_

The rest of the week had gone by rather uneventfully, as everyone had been acquainted with each other quite well. Marco, Connie, and Sasha still thought my thing with Levi was a little fucked up, and they hadn’t dared talk to Armin about Erwin and him. Hanji created a massive group text for all of us, which she frequently spammed with surreal memes and sensationalist science articles she pulled from the depths of the internet. Levi and I had gone to lunch a couple more times alone, but the majority of the rest of the days in New York were spent with the entire group, which was kind of frustrating to me. I had really wanted more alone time with Levi, but he had mentioned, no, promised me that in DC we would have a lot more time to do things on our own.

His office was there, as well as his apartment. I had forgotten that he lived in DC while we were here. Even though we had only had a few quick blowjobs since the Conference Fuck, I felt very sexually close to Levi. I saw him look at me with passion in his steely blue eyes quite frequently, which made my entire digestive system do somersaults like a novice diver off the ten-meter platform. He smiled a bit more often, laughed a bit more, and overall seemed more relaxed as the group became more comfortable with each other. Something was still slightly off, though. I noticed him tensing up randomly when groups of people walked by, or disappearing for a while without letting anyone know where he was going. I had thought of texting him when he did that, but I felt like that was too intense for what our relationship was at the moment.

I didn’t believe that Levi would just suddenly leave me, but he was too private for me to be able to say that with 100% certainty. I knew he cared, in his own way, but it still gave me a bit of chest-shattering anxiety every time he disappeared. Being emotionally-stunted by people abandoning you was a difficult pill to swallow, and I worked so hard every day not to smother him in affection or neediness. I wasn’t even that needy, but Levi was a completely different type of person. He was solitary and independent, he rarely asked for help, and he had a difficult time explaining his emotions to people. He had claimed he didn’t like to talk about his personal life, but as soon as he said he needed a smoke, I was in for an earful about his day. It was cute, really, the way he hid his feelings only to spaghetti them all over the sidewalk littered in cigarette butts. He never asked for input, so I never gave any. He needed an outlet, so, as any good assistant, I vowed to be there for him to dump on.

“Hey shit, come here.” Levi said, walking towards me.

“What’s up captain?” I asked, cocking my head to the side. We were in the lobby of our hotel. The conference had finished up this morning, and we were in the process of packing up for DC.

“Unfortunately, I’ve been informed that I won’t be on your flight. We’re leaving a bit early. Erwin has shit to attend to and I have to go make sure all of my office jockeys haven’t killed each other yet.” I nodded slowly. I hadn’t exactly expected for us to be on the same flight, but I didn’t think he would be leaving so much earlier.

“That’s okay.” I said, smiling to hide the disappointment. He shook his head.

“It’s not, and I know you’re upset, but shit happens. I gotta leave in like thirty minutes if I want to make it to the plane on time, so,” he paused and looked at me like he was going to say something mind-blowing and nobel-prize worthy, “Don’t die while I’m gone or accidentally become someone else’s assistant, okay?” I smiled and nodded as Levi looked away from me. He most definitely wasn’t going to win any awards for eloquence.

“To be honest, I’m not too worried about _me_ dying. Remember to be extra careful on the plane, flying is difficult as you get older.” My comment was met with a playful slap to the arm.

“I’m serious, I’ll see you tomorrow morning, right?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. I raised my own eyebrows.

“Oh, is the great Levi Ackerman saying that he’s going to _miss me?_ ” I teased, poking him in the shoulder. He rolled his eyes.

“Maybe, maybe not. You certainly gave me at least a little bit to miss, so hopefully I decide the sex is worth your insufferable attitude and smile.” I gave him a toothy grin, just to piss him off. He shook his head with a smirk. He could pretend all he wanted, but he was going to miss me. I moved my shoulders in a little wiggle dance.

“See you tomorrow then, and I’ll make sure to adjust my _attitude_ before you see me, lest I get punished.”

“Goodbye Jaeger, see you later.” He said with the slightest hint of a chuckle as he walked away. I waved and walked back inside to see my friends, who were all still packing.

_Levi_

I followed Erwin to the rental car that he had valeted at the beginning of the week. _What a fucking week._ I had had mind blowing sex, seen Armin getting rammed into the bed, eaten some _delicious fucking_ food, and been in a good mood while socializing with people I normally despised. I hummed to myself as I shoved my suitcase into the car.

I hopped into the passenger seat just in time for Erwin to turn on his shitty music. I wasn’t sure what genre he listened to, it was a mix of piss-poor rock and pathetic 60s and 70s stoner ballads. Not my personal type, I was more of a classical or alternative kinda guy. I turned to look out the window, hoping to have as little verbal contact with Erwin as possible. After talking it out with Eren, or more so, _to_ Eren, my disdain for Erwin had grown little by little every passing minute.

He had used me, abused me, and prevented me from leaving. It made me feel sick to my stomach knowing that I still had to be carted around by him. I guess I could have gotten my own car, but then it wouldn’t have been very efficient or economical. I could have scheduled a flight at a different time, but again, the logistics would have been messed up. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized I was coming up with excuses about why I wasn’t avoiding Erwin than actually coming up with a plan to legitimately get rid of him. We had shared a car, a hotel room, we scheduled our flights together. I watched the buildings pass us by. _What am I doing?_

“So, are you happy with Eren?” Erwin spoke up, eyes on the road in front of him. I nodded and grunted in a non-committal response. “You know you can talk to me.” He said, glancing my way. I nodded again. He sighed. “Levi, we have to talk about Grisha.” I rolled my head around on my neck. _Of fucking course, I forgot about his piece of shit deadbeat father._

“What about him?” I asked blankly, still avoiding looking at Erwin.

“He’s going for that promotion.” I nodded.

“Nice deductive reasoning skills, genius.” Erwin scoffed at me.

“You have to be more careful. If they’re going to get Grisha security clearance, seeing his son around you isn’t going to do anyone any good.” I rolled my eyes, momentarily forgetting what he was talking about.

“So what? I’ve been hired by the government, it’s not like hanging out with me is going to cause them to deny his dad.” I retorted, feeling myself getting more animated than I was used to.

“Have you talked to him about why you’re stuck in HR?” Erwin asked, messing with the AC. I shook my head.

“Not exactly, but it’s really not the biggest deal, shit is done, over with, I already did what I had to do.” I rolled my eyes and looked out the window again. No, I had not been fully honest with Eren, but it wasn’t something that would become much of an issue. Erwin sighed. “Just fucking put a cork in it, literally, it’s done. It’s over now, he doesn’t need to know and I’m getting all of this horseshit sorted out.”

“What are you going to tell him?” I threw up my hands.

“I don’t _fucking_ know, Erwin, what? What, am I supposed to take him to dinner and announce to him that I led most of the covert whistle blowing campaigns on the US government? Should I throw in the stuff about the Dark net markets? Want me to add in some light treason as well? How much am I supposed to tell him?” Erwin shook his head and sucked in air through his teeth.

“The only reason I’m bringing this up is because we never got it off your background check. I’m not far enough up yet, and you don’t have enough work history to cover it. You’d fail any security clearance check for pretty much any governmental department. Grisha is trying to secure a position with the second highest level of clearance. They’re already going to give him a hard time because he knows _who you are._ Imagine if they find out that you’ve been _fucking his son._ ” I put my head in my hands and groaned.

Seriously, this shit had been dealt with. I was a stupid teenager who liked computers way too much and got way too invested in shit I shouldn’t have. I thought it was cool to expose secrets and worm my way into classified servers. I enjoyed the rush of the beginnings of the Dark net markets, the adrenaline of selling and buying illegal garbage. I never claimed that I was a smart kid in the way most parents would prefer. I wasn’t proud of it. I never killed anyone or anything, but basically being sanctioned and watched by the government because of stuff that happened a decade ago wasn’t in my top five favorite things.

But, it wasn’t like I had continued to do those things. I still had a sick security system and retained a lot of knowledge, but the threat of prison wasn’t to my advantage. Instead, Erwin had convinced his boss to let me work for them so they could employ me and keep watch on everything I did to prevent me from doing anything like that again. I thought it was quite ironic, because every day I was handed a bag of papers to shred, most of which were being shred for a _good_ reason, and expected to _not read them_ before shoving them through the metal slits atop the garbage can. Idiots.

“It’ll be fine. I haven’t given them any reason not to trust me, I’ve done my dues, I even got a legitimate job without your help. If they want to come interview me, let them. I have nothing more to say that I haven’t told them, other than that I’m a perverted old man with the hots for my twenty-one-year-old assistant with the bright green eyes. If they have an issue with that and it costs anyone their job, they’ll be getting an anonymous tip about a senior employee who has the hots for _their_ twenty-year old blue-eyed assistant.” Erwin pursed his lips.

The rest of the drive to the airport was made in silence. Erwin didn’t dare speak, and I didn’t have anything to say. I chewed on my lip idly in line to check my bags.

_Buzz_

**Eren:** Hey! I hope you have a safe flight. I don’t need to have to arrange for a casket before I see you again.

I smiled as I pulled out my phone and read his stupid message. God, he was so fucking stupid. It was disgustingly endearing, and it made me want to vomit. It also made me want to shove my dick so far up his ass he’d be giving me a blowjob at the same time. It made me want to pull him into a hug and wrap him up in the bed sheets like a burrito. _Lots of mixed signals going on up in here._ My brain was an enigma.

 **Levi:** You’ll have to arrange for Erwin’s first, I’m about to commit murder.

 **Eren:** Oh no, what’s wrong?

 **Levi:** Erwin is just being himself, and it makes me want to wring his neck sometimes.

 **Eren:** Well, tomorrow you can tell me all about it in person over coffee, how does that sound?

I gulped, suddenly feeling really warm. I had never been the best with feelings, but after I let the little shit put his cock up my ass, I had felt a lot more nervous than usual. I wasn’t the biggest fan of feeling vulnerable, and anytime emotions came into play, I backed away like a scared puppy or something. I thought about Eren’s sweet eyes and smile, his gentle touch and soft hair. He really did care about me. Did I care about him? Obviously, if I was getting this worked up over asking him on a date.

I hovered my thumbs over the keyboard for longer than I should have.

 **Levi:** As long as you pick the place, it sounds wonderful.

I sighed.

 **Eren:** Great! I can’t wait! See you soon, get some sleep or something, you’re starting to look like one of those poorly embalmed bodies.

I snorted. He was stupid, and made the stupidest remarks, but I loved them.

_Wait, shit._

I stopped walking.

 _I_ loved _them?_

I was so incredibly fucked. I was so fucked up beyond recognition, even Erwin was concerned. I felt like I was going to vomit. I tried to convince myself I didn’t mean it like that; that loving his actions was different than loving _him_. Hell, I had never loved anything before, unless unburnt coffee or a really nice shit that came out all in one piece counted.

I was so unbelievably fucked up that I hadn’t even registered my thumbs on the screen of my phone until I had sent the response.

 **Levi:** I’ll make sure to rest up for you, kid. See you tomorrow.

 **Levi:** <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love writing this fic, honestly. all of your comments and kudos make me feel so warm inside, thank you so much for the support! i hope that it's progressing along nicely for everyone. i know i feel like it is. 
> 
> i will say that stuff for school is picking up again, so i'll do my best to update regularly and make sure the chapters are good quality. all of the support is so wonderful <3 ily guys. please let me know how you like it!
> 
> quick question: would anyone read a self-indulgent law school fanfiction filled with all of my hedonistic disgusting desires of violent kinks and drug use, or should that just be something i write for myself as an outlet for the stress of law school?


	11. Contrary to popular belief, you cannot smoke in the IMF building

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some misunderstandings here and there, some of which become a much bigger deal than they should

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU for being patient with me, my school schedule has been rough and i've been also writing that other fic when i felt extra angsty. to celebrate my return, have some more angst
> 
> also the arcade near me has a sound voltex machine (japanese rhythm game) so ofc ive spent many hours there

“Oh my _god_ , Eren, this place is gorgeous!” Armin yelled from outside of our next hotel. We had spent the last 7 hours traveling through busy airports and looking for my dad’s rental car, and honestly, I was just beat.

The flight hadn’t been too bad, but Armin was pretty talkative the whole way, and my social battery is fairly low when I’m already tired from traveling. I did my best to entertain him; I hadn’t really seen him as much as I would have wanted while we were in NYC. Although, to be fair, I was definitely having a great time. The Model UN stuff was pretty neat, and Levi’s group of friends was really nice as well. We also arrived in DC at the same time as Connie, Sasha, and Marco, so we would all be together in this hotel.

It was another big, swanky, rich person hotel, with a gorgeous interior. It was like these places had dress codes or something, everyone here was wearing a suit or business casual. There were no kids, just middle-aged working people, half of whom looked like they were ready to kill themselves, the other half looking like the only thing they had consumed that day was coffee, cocaine, and vodka. I sighed as I glanced around for Levi, forgetting that he _lived here._ Right. He had a real apartment somewhere in this city, and a real office somewhere. His actual _life_ was here, I was visiting his home.

My mind was still reeling from the heart he had texted me before he left. I had, of course, texted him back a heart as well, because why the hell not, and we talked a bit when he got to DC. It seemed like he had gotten busy because his replies became less and less quick. _That’s okay, he literally lives here._ It’s not like the man was going to go anywhere.

“Eren! Come on, let’s go! Get your head out of Levi’s ass and let’s put our stuff away so we can all go explore DC!” I groaned as Armin eagerly grabbed my hand and took off running, dragging me behind him. My suitcase flipped itself around multiple times, I tripped over some guy’s shoe, and I almost got dissected in the elevator doors, which didn’t seem to have working sensors. After another ten minutes of terror, Armin directed us to our room. I had made him get the keys this time, since I did it last time.

“Damn, this is nice.” I said, glancing around the room as Armin swung the door open. It wasn’t as opulent as the one in New York, and was definitely a more monotone scheme, but gorgeous, nonetheless. The beds looked crisp and clean, which was very inviting to my exhausted self. I flopped down on my stomach on the bed near the bathroom and turned my head to Armin. “What are we doing for food?” My stomach had been trying to tell me something for the past four hours, but I couldn’t decipher it until now, comfortable on top of this hotel mattress. Armin pursed his lips.

“I can look something up, is there anything in particular that you want? It’s kind of late, so I’m not actually sure much is open other than maybe McDonald’s.” Armin pulled out his phone. “We got in pretty late. Maybe they have room service?” He asked, cocking his head. I shook mine.

“There’s no way I’m paying for shitty hotel food.”

“Oh, but you’ll immediately lay down on a shitty hotel bed?”

“Shove it Armin, I’m _tired._ ” Armin giggled. “May I remind you who fell asleep fully clothed for a near ten hours after our flight to New York? Hmm? Let me have this moment.” I started running my arms and legs across the comforter like I was making bed-angels. My stomach protested again.

“I can literally hear your stomach from all the way over here. McDonald’s is open, we can walk?” Armin asked, bending down to be eye level with me. I cracked open one of my eyes, which was being stared into by one of Armin’s big blue ones.

“I don’t want to.” I groaned, pulling myself up.

“It’s like, right there. Right there dude.” Armin went to the window and pointed, twice, for emphasis. “Literally _right_ across the street. You _cannot_ be that lazy.” I rolled my eyes, sighing as I dragged my feet over to see where Armin was aggressively pointing. _It is right there, huh._ My stomach growled again, and I cursed my evolutionary bodily functions. We could have evolved for photosynthesis, or filter feeding, but no, we have to work for our food.

“Alright, let’s go, I’m so hungry, I don’t even care how far away it is.” Armin looked at me and shook his head, an irritated expression on his face.

“Sometimes I have no idea what you want. You complain because it’s too far, and then I show you that’s it isn’t even 30 feet from the doors of the hotel, and then you complain _again_. Ugh, let’s go.” He snatched his wallet and phone from the credenza near the entryway. I followed behind him, reminding myself every step of the way that a big, juicy burger and some fries were headed to be digested.

Within five minutes, I had acquired my greasy, late night food. They actually gave me ranch for my fries, which made my entire day about a thousand times better. Armin didn’t want to sit in the McDonald’s at 11PM, so we brought it back to the hotel, where I eagerly ate on my bed. Crumbs? Likely everywhere. Did I care? Not at all. Of course, Armin wanted to talk as soon as I had shoved an entire handful of fries into my mouth at once. Not an exaggeration, I was curious as to how many I could chew at a time. Turns out, it isn’t a handful. It’s more like a half.

“Did Levi ever text you?” He asked, dipping his nuggets into some honey mustard. It matched his hair color, which was some funny shit in my tired state. I spit French fry bits all over the bed after trying to hold in a laugh. “You’re going to choke! Eren! Slow down! McDonald’s will be here tomorrow too.” He shook his head and rolled his eyes at me, but there was definitely a teeny smile on his lips.

“He did, we talked just a little bit, but he kinda dropped off the map. I’m sure he’s in bed or something, he’s an old man.” I shrugged and took a bite of my burger. “He said we would hang out and do more tomorrow. I trust him. Did Erwin text you? Are you guys on a texting basis?” I asked, suddenly curious about their arrangement. We hadn’t talked about this in length yet. Only bits and pieces. Armin blushed, so I already knew my answer, but being the nosy best friend I am, of _course_ I had to ask more.

I switched beds to sit across from Armin on his, like when we used to gossip at sleepovers. I put my chin in my hands and gave him the _best_ puppy-dog eyes I could muster. “Sooooo, you and Erwin?” I asked, battling my eyelashes. Armin groaned and covered his face with his hands. He gave me a weak punch to the arm.

“I don’t want to talk about it, honestly. I was mortified when we were walked in on, and then I was equally as mortified when I walked into lunch. Erwin texted me a little bit, but it feels so _weird._ I can’t place my finger on it. He said he wants to take me to dinner tomorrow night.” I nodded.

“Are you going to go?” I asked, hoping he would say yes. As much as it disturbed me to think about Erwin and my best friend together, I thought deep down it would be good for Armin to get out. Armin bit his lip.

“I don’t know.” He sighed. “It isn’t that I don’t want to, I just feel weird about it.” He turned to me, blue eyes looking sadder by the second. “I feel like he’s not doing this because he likes me.” I nodded again, absentmindedly glancing around the room.

“Has he done anything to make you think that?”

“Well, not really. But I do think I’m pretty good at reading people, and it doesn’t feel genuine. He always seems like he has something else on his mind.” I sighed. This sounded familiar.

“If it makes you feel any better, Levi does the same shit with me. It seems like he always has something else to do, something more important on his mind. Drives me nuts, but he sucks a mean cock, so,” Armin covered his ears with his hands. I laughed. “Dude, may I remind you that we’re both in the same situation?” I started to laugh harder.

The more I thought about it, the more fucked up it sounded. It wasn’t that they were older, it was that it was starting to look like a big flow chart of manipulation. They were obviously in a higher status than us, and not that a status system really exists, but both Levi and Erwin had power. They had wealth and they had political clout. Both of them knew my dad, they knew my dad’s friends. They knew people in places higher than I could imagine.

If we ever pissed them off, it could very well set off a big chain reaction. Either Levi or Erwin could tell on the other, implicating whichever partner. If it were me, my dad would be told, his higher ups would know, and he would be fucked for that promotion. If it were Armin, his chances at working in Big Science with Hanji were slim, and it was likely that Erwin would get personal flak for it as well, along with everyone that they knew that didn’t snitch on them. I wasn’t positive that Levi would though; something about his job situation didn’t sit right with me either.

In fact, the more I thought about it, the more concerned I became. Was this common practice? Nobody at the conference seemed to bat an eye at me while I followed Levi like a leashed dog, and nobody looked at Erwin weird either. It didn’t seem that Levi’s discussion with Dr. Pixis went poorly, so he wasn’t concerned. Hanji and the rest of their friends had been totally okay with them toting us around and meeting all of _our_ friends. Was it weird for grown men and women to want to hang out with a bunch of college kids? Maybe Hanji, but I couldn’t imagine a wholesome reason for Erwin or Levi. Of course, they weren’t being wholesome anyway.

“Is this weird?” Armin asked, reading my mind.

“Hmm, I don’t know. The more I think about it, the less things add up.” Armin nodded.

“Levi shouldn’t be in HR.” Armin said quietly. I scooted closer.

“What do you mean?” Armin chewed on his lip.

“Please don’t tell him anything, but I may have overheard Erwin talking with Levi, and I only heard half the discussion, but it sounded like Levi wasn’t… legally qualified for anything else?” He trailed off, as if unsure of himself. “I did a little digging, and he’s nearly wiped off the face of the earth. I’m sure they have his files somewhere, but as far as I’m concerned, he doesn’t exist. He isn’t listed on the IMF website.” I shook my head.

“That’s really not possible, I literally spent hours on his papers and saw his business card?” Armin shrugged.

“That’s all I could find. If it makes you feel better, Erwin’s work history has a large chunk missing that coincides with when I’m assuming Levi was hired under him, which was about 9 years ago or so.”

“How the fuck did you find all this?” I asked, running my hands through my hair. Was there an explanation for this? Honestly, it really didn’t seem _that_ sketchy yet. There were too many moving parts and plot holes for me to really worry. However, the mere fact that Armin knew all of this and was concerned about it made my heart race.

“After I heard them talking, I did a little research through Erwin’s files when he was in the bathroom. There was a bunch of classified stuff in there, and a lot of it looked computer related, but I’m not a computer science major.” I scoffed.

“That means nothing then, there’s nothing to tie Levi to it? He doesn’t know shit all about computers probably, he’s too old.” Armin shrugged again, popping another nugget into his mouth.

“All I’m saying, is that I’m getting weird vibes. Levi isn’t an HR personality at all, and we both can see that. We can also see how Erwin and him act weird, and how nobody really tries to talk to him. I was walking with Erwin, and he was stopped every three seconds to say hello to someone, to shake hands and stuff.” I thought for a moment. Armin had a point, really nobody ever tried to talk to Levi.

“You have a point; nobody does that with Levi.” I said, eating more fries and taking a sip of my Coke. We sat in relative silence for a while, the only noise in the room our chewing. After an indeterminate amount of quiet, I had to break the awkward tension. “So are you going to go to dinner, or like, nah?”

“I guess I’ll go. Now I’m kinda curious what’s going on.” I nodded.

“Go, I kinda wanna know too. I’m going to text Levi and see if he wants to do anything tomorrow. He probably won’t answer until 7AM though.” Armin laughed.

“He can’t be that old.” I nodded while rolling my eyes. _Yep, he did wake up early as hell every day._

 **Eren:** Hey I know you’re probably asleep, but did you want to do something in specific tomorrow?

 **Eren:** Armin and I were talking about plans

I bit my lip, knowing full well that Levi wouldn’t be responding anytime soon. I locked my phone and threw it on my bed, returning to my own comforter. I was tired; my two remaining brain cells were ceasing to function. By the time I had gotten myself up to brush my teeth and wash my face, it was 12:30 in the morning. I shimmied underneath the comforter. Armin turned off the lights.

Not that I was expecting anything, but I picked up my phone in just the _slightest_ of hopes that Levi had texted me back. _Oh shit._

 **Levi:** Sure. What do you want to do?

He had sent that less than five minutes ago. _You got this Eren, fucking respond, please make those brain cells work._

 **Eren:** Uhh, we could go explore DC? We could go see the conference center and some of the cool stuff if you don’t have to work.

 **Levi:** I do have to work, but you can probably come to my office.

Levi was pretty much confirming that he had a legitimate office, and of _course_ I wasn’t going to turn down this offer.

 **Eren:** Cool, that sounds fun!

There was no response again. I sighed into my pillow while fiddling with the charger to get it into my phone. It felt weird. Levi had been texting way different earlier today and even in the days before, why was he being weird now? What was going on?

 **Eren:** I know it isn’t my place, but are you okay?

 **Levi:** Why?

_Nearly instantaneous response. Huh._

**Eren:** You just seem like you’re texting a bit differently than we usually do.

 **Levi:** t’s midnight you little shit, of course I’m typing weird, it’s way past my bedtime.

 **Eren:** Okay. Have a good night!

 **Levi:** You too brat.

 **Eren:** <3

Another lack of response. _Fuck._ Maybe the heart had been too much. Was I freaking him out? Was I being too clingy? _Fuck my life, holy shit. How do I always manage to do this to myself?_ I swear, I must have been some sort of masochist to continually get into situations that do nothing but fuck myself over. _It’s because you don’t think._ My brain cells were right, I don’t think, I’ve probably never “thunk” in my entire life. I groaned into the pillow, hoping that Armin couldn’t hear it. I didn’t hear a peep from him, so I assumed I was in the clear for that one. Luckily for me, I didn’t have to torture myself for much longer, because as soon as I closed my eyes, I fell asleep.

_7:35AM_

I woke up to a godawful noise coming from my phone. Wait, it was just my ringtone.

“He-hello?” I stuttered, barely awake, nearly half a second from immediately falling asleep.

“Are you coming to work today?” _Oh FUCK._

“Levi? Shit, I didn’t know that was happening.”

“Did you not check your fucking texts? Goddamnit Jaeger, I’m going to ask Hanji to use stem cells to grow you some new neurons, god knows you need them.” I quickly pulled up my texts, and sure enough, Levi had texted me about work. At four in the morning.

“That’s not fair.” I said, “You send this at 4AM, I wasn’t awake? I wasn’t under the impression that you were going to text me about work at 4 in the fucking morning.” I heard Levi slap his face and drag his hand down it.

“Never mind. Go back to bed.” I groaned and picked myself up out of bed.

“I’m getting up.” I replied, actually pissed off that he had the balls to ask me where I was. The man texted me at _four in the fucking morning._ Who the hell is up at 4AM? Not me. Not anyone else who follows a semi-regular sleep schedule. The fucking raccoons were probably asleep by then. 

“I said never mind. Don’t worry about it.” He hung up on me. _What the fuck?_ He wasn’t okay, there was something seriously wrong. He was mean, but not this mean. He sounded exhausted.

Low-IQ morning Eren struck again as he hastily went through his morning routine. I picked out a navy blue suit and a white shirt with a dark green tie. _He texted me the address, right?_ Scrolling through the messages didn’t take long, as it was the last one in the thread. It was the address to the IMF building and his office number. I guess I was just going to have to see what met me on the other side of those glass walls. Would Levi be pissed? Oh, absolutely. Was he going to kill me? Potentially (not that I would have minded.) There was even the possibility that he would never speak to me again. I shrugged. Nothing to lose, right? I could just ask my dad to fly home, wouldn’t be a big deal.

I followed the maps directions as well as I could, but there was a lot of subway riding that slowed me down. I didn’t reach the building itself until 8:45, which I knew was a death warrant. I shouldn’t have reached for the door handle. I shouldn’t have walked in. I shouldn’t have walked past the receptionist and gotten onto the elevator. I definitely shouldn’t have said hello to the random people in the elevator.

_Ding._

I most certainly, definitely, should not be arriving at Levi’s office right now.

But I was.

I walked down the hallways, which were surprisingly modern. The office spaces were open for most, with only a few cubicles and some doors for the larger offices. Levi’s office was all the way at the end of the cubicles, and it looked like he had two of his walls made out of windows if I was thinking of the building in the correct orientation. _Shit’s nice._ I noted, smiling at the random employees who had never seen me. I got a few looks, but I didn’t look much different than any of them.

There were a lot of young folks. I was dressed similarly enough that nobody would have suspected anything. I was technically a new hire, right? I stopped when I reached Levi’s door. There was a small desk in front of it, which was empty. _Knock? Or just walk in?_ I knocked. I didn’t know if my kneecaps were still being held hostage, but I wanted to give them the best possible chance at survival.

The door opened, to which Levi immediately tried to shut again. I stuck my foot in the door.

“Not this again, Jaeger. At least you’re sober this time. You better have a good excuse for being late.” I looked at him, dumbfounded.

“I wasn’t awake after office hours were over, when most people sleep, to receive the text about my schedule in a timely manner. I did not set an alarm, because I was not told previously that I had to work, and I remember being told specifically to “rest up.” Levi sighed and let me in. _Nice._

His office was beautiful. Levi was a beautiful man, and his office fit him perfectly. It was void of pretty much any personal affects, other than a picture of him and who I assumed was his mom, and then some potted plants. The furniture was modern, and the windows brought in a lot of natural light. I sat down on a white chair in front of his desk as he sat down behind it.

“Why did you show up?” He asked, absentmindedly clicking on stuff on his laptop and typing. He didn’t even look at me.

“I wanted to come in to work.” I shrugged. He glanced over his laptop at me, which was adorable. He was too short to just look up, so he had to _lift_ himself a bit to see over the screen. I definitely didn’t laugh. Something was wrong here.

“Well, congrats. Welcome to the office.” He gestured around. “Happy?” I furrowed my brow.

“Are you okay?”

“What does it matter to you?” He shot back, angry. I leaned back in my chair.

“Because you’re kind of treating me like shit.” Levi snorted.

“Get used to it. I’m not really a peachy person kid.” I shook my head in confusion.

“I mean, you were at least less hostile 24 hours ago. I can leave if you want me to.” I started to get up, and he said nothing. _Nothing._ I waited too, I waited for him to say something to me. Nothing came. Walking towards the door, I turned the handle in an experimental show.

“Make sure the door closes behind you.” My jaw dropped.

“Fucking fine, if you’re going to be an ass, so be it. Maybe you have some shit going on, I don’t know, but don’t take it out on some kid you picked up and tried to use.” I saw Levi wince ever so slightly. He didn’t look up at me. I continued, because why not? I was already neck deep.

“I know you’re upset about something. God forbid someone care about you. You push everyone away so quickly. I know Hanji can be irritating, but she obviously cares, and you don’t, you don’t care about anyone but yourself. I’ve known you a week, so yeah, maybe I don’t know you, and I wasn’t trying to. I was just trying to be fucking _nice_ to you _._ People _do_ like you, but we prefer when you aren’t an absolute jerk to everyone you come within ten feet of. Sorry; sorry Levi, I’m sorry I took a goddamn _interest_ into your life. I’ll fuck out now.”

I saw a vein appear on his forehead, and he stopped clicking and typing. Levi _still_ didn’t look up at me.

“I’ll see you at lunch.” I heard quietly.

“What?”

“I will see you at lunch.” He said, lifting his head up to make eye contact. “Close the door on your way out.” I let my jaw hang open as I walked out. I let the door swing behind me a little louder than it should have, but whatever. Fucking _dick._

* * *

_Levi_

I fucked up.

He slammed the door behind him and I immediately took pleasure in the loud bang so I could personally drop my forehead onto my desk as hard as possible.

I’m not sure why I thought that was a good idea. I knew he wasn’t going to see the text at 4, I could have just responded to him earlier. I was actively not responding to him, because I didn’t want to. Erwin had been on me about telling him about my computer shit and I was pissed. Should I have told him earlier? Maybe, I don’t know. I really didn’t think it was that big of a deal.

It really only affected me in the sense that I was basically in the witness protection program, or maybe like one of those terrorists the government reappropriates to the “good side.” Except, I wasn’t using any of my skillset here in this goddamn HR office. I didn’t know shit all about human resources, and all of the people working out there knew I was useless here.

I slammed my hand down on the desk. I knew _damn well_ that as soon as I sent that stupid heart, I was done for. Something about his big green eyes and cheerful demeanor really did a number on my heart. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, his smile, his vivid energy. He had it all. He had friends, a family who loved him, an exciting life. Meanwhile, I was over here in a ball of self-fucking-pity, thinking about how pathetic my life was.

I was basically indebted to both Erwin and the government. I had lied to the IMF to get this job, and the head of the department knew. It was only a matter of time before Erwin would have to pull more strings to get me reassigned, which meant that I was further down the rabbit hole with him. I wanted to be done, so bad. I had no friends, maybe Hanji, but no other close friends. Eren had been the only non-work-related text conversation I had on my phone in the last two years. Nobody wanted to talk to me.

I snorted because I knew this was my fault for isolating. But why wouldn’t I isolate when I already knew what the answer would be? I was pretty unlikeable. I wasn’t sure why Eren stuck around as long as he did. He probably wouldn’t show up to lunch, which I would be simultaneously grateful and pissed for. I pressed my fingers to my temples, sighing, trying to fight this internal battle.

I needed to apologize, and I needed to tell him so I could at least get Erwin off my back and expedite my possible reassignment. Would he be mad? Would he be disappointed? _Oh god._ I didn’t want to see him disappointed. I shook my head.

This was seriously sad. The situation was literally as easy as me calling him, apologizing to him, meeting him for lunch, telling him what was on my mind and heart, and making up (and maybe making out.) Instead, I was sitting here at my desk, making up excuses for why my behavior was justified. Being pathetic isn’t an excuse to be an ass. Having a shitty life wasn’t an excuse to isolate.

I picked up my phone, opened it, and hovered over the text thread with Eren. My poor bottom lip was nearly bleeding, I had started chewing on it at some point in the last…. Fifteen minutes during my one man pity party. I locked the phone again, opting instead to self-loathe for another five minutes. I even set a _timer_.

Why couldn’t I do this? Why was I incapable of this? I wasn’t a bad person. I didn’t _not_ care about people, quite the opposite actually. I cared way too much for my own good, which meant that I pretty much ignored every part of myself that could be seen as emotional in the least. When it came out, it felt too overwhelming to be comfortable, so I tried to have those moments as little as possible. It was so stupidly cliché that I would even think about saying that Eren was going to change that.

He was some stupid kid who was Grisha’s son, who had just come with because his rich dad could bring him and he was _bored._ He had nothing to worry about, had no real life experience. I wasn’t even sure he had had a job before. _Probably not._ I groaned into my hands and bit my thumb as hard as I could. He owed me jack shit. Nothing. He didn’t owe me his affection, or his interest, or his time. I didn’t do anything to deserve any of those things. I treated him like shit, made up for it in sex, treated him like shit again, and this time I really fucked it up. It wasn’t like we could go fuck in the restaurant or something to make up for it.

I sighed, thinking about the fact he would think I was paying for his lunch as an “I’m sorry” gift. That wasn’t the point, and I hoped he would be smart enough to recognize that I was just a sad man who had difficulty identifying and discussing emotions. He probably wouldn’t. As much as I liked the kid, he really did have less than five brain cells on a good day. Something in there just didn’t always connect, but it didn’t… bother him? I could never. My brain, despite being destructive to myself, was pretty much the only thing I had going for me. At least I could be _useful._

My head banged against the desk again. This was how I got into this mess in the first place, and I was only making it worse. My timer went off, my period of self-loathing had come to its prescribed end. I let out a hiss through my teeth, picked up the goddamn phone, and called Eren. Not even texted him. Called.

One ring, then straight to fucking voicemail.

Never in my life have I more calmly put down a phone. I closed my laptop gently, pushed in my desk chair, and took a few steps back to look out the window. My faint reflection in the mirror showed how sad I looked. Not even in a pathetic way, but in a moody way. My eyebrows were droopy, I had bags under my eyes, my hair was a little messed up, and my lips were turned into a perpetual frown. Just for kicks, I tried to smile at myself in my reflection, which looked so stupid that I actually laughed. It looked so unnatural. How did Eren make it look so natural?

I laughed again. Then, I laughed some more. I laughed so hard that I had to lay down on the ground and stare at my reflection from the floor. I grabbed my cigarettes from my pocket and shamelessly lit one up in my office. The fire alarms would probably go off. I laughed again, blowing smoke out of my nose. My abs hurt from laughing so hard. I stood up, didn’t bother straightening myself out, and walked out of my office, leaving the door swinging open, cigarette hanging out of my mouth.

The employees in my wing all stopped their work to watch me walk out. My tie was lopsided, my hair was fucked up, I had been crying from laughing so hard, I was smoking in the office, and just for good measure, I decided to smile and wave to them. I heard a couple of items drop to the floor as they watched me walk out in silence.

I continued into the big atrium of the IMF building. It had recently been moved to this really nice all glass number here, so everyone could watch me as I walked by various offices. I smiled and waved to all of them too. _Fuck this._ My step got springier as I made my way to the front door. I made it a double “fuck you” by flipping off the receptionist and blowing smoke towards her. She made a face and picked up the phone while glaring at me. I smiled, waved, and winked to her. The phone was promptly dropped, as was her jaw. Customers in the lobby were staring, I could feel everyone’s eyes on me.

The glass door shut behind me softly. _Soft close technology really is a wonder, huh._ And I walked. And I walked. I walked in circles, chain smoking, ambling around the blocks near my office. I would have to go back in there and grab my shit at some point, but it wouldn’t be now. Instead, I turned to head back to my apartment. I still had my keys. I still had a sliver of dignity. I had a second phone in there too, so if anyone needed me they could try that one. Although, Erwin was the only one who had the number. To be completely fair, I knew he would be calling in a matter of minutes, if he hadn’t already.

I fucked up Eren, and I fucked up my job. I didn’t deserve either of them. You know what? That was okay. Because I _did_ deserve to lose _them_. I couldn’t handle my own goddamn self, how was I supposed to handle a job I knew nothing about and a love interest filled with life and happiness?

I _wasn’t_ supposed to, it wasn’t meant to be.

I continued smoking into the apartment building, giving the smile and wave to the receptionist there too. I heard her call me, try to tell me to stop, but I wasn’t going to. I paid my rent. They would have to evict me.

I climbed the stairs to the top floor. I never said I didn’t make good money. Shit was 15 stories up, but it was worth the burn in my quads. My key clicked in the lock. Ambling to the door to the wraparound patio, I stood outside, watching the world go by. I heard my other phone ringing in the distance somewhere. It would have to wait.

I had five cigarettes left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please dont kill me thanks <3
> 
> comments and kudos do mean a lot, im curious if you guys like the story progression so far. interesting? not interesting? im the author so my own opinion doesnt count lol
> 
> also its late, and i dont have a beta, so my bad if theres any super bad mistakes. i do read through the chapters to see how it looks, but sometimes i do miss things. please let me know! ily guys


	12. Well, that escalated quickly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren is in way over his head, as is pretty much everyone else at this point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my dad's favorite movie is anchorman please dont @ me
> 
> i hope you guys enjoy <3

Armin had met me outside of the hotel as soon as I called him to let him know what I had been up to this morning. He hadn’t heard me leave the room in the wee hours of the morning, and I had neglected to tell him or text him, or hell, communicate with him until I was kicked out of Levi’s office. We exchanged no words, only sad glances. Actually, I was scowling because I was angry, hurt, and frustrated. Armin was upset because I was upset, and he knew that telling me he had lunch plans with Erwin would only piss me off more.

He held my hand as we walked through the streets in DC, stopping into some stores and grabbing some coffee at one point. Armin bought me a croissant to eat while we sat on a bench in a nice park. The city was beautiful, it really was. Unfortunately, it was less than 24 hours in and I was already pissed. Our eyes scanned the swarms of tourists coming and going; everyone seemed like they were in a hurry all the time. It was better than it had been in NYC, but it still looked like these people had _places to be._ I guess having a real job was like that.

The silence was only slightly awkward. Armin was people watching, I was brooding. I hadn’t really felt like saying much; there wasn’t anything for me to say other than I had royally fucked up. I had definitely made it worse by ignoring his phone call, but I wasn’t in the mood to talk. In my defense, I did try to call him back thirty-ish minutes later, but he hadn’t responded. I sighed into my hands as I tossed a piece of croissant to a pigeon. Armin slapped my arm.

“Don’t feed them!” I looked at Armin like he was stupid.

“They’re fucking pigeons dude, they eat garbage, a croissant won’t kill them.” Armin rolled his eyes.

“It’s still not good for them.” I groaned and rolled my head around on my neck.

“Cut me some fucking slack.” Armin scowled at me this time, clicking his tongue. He started to open that smart mouth of his, but promptly shut it when his phone started to ring.

“Hello?” Armin’s eyes got wide. “No, he’s here with me, Levi and him had some sort of…” Armin looked at me with pleading eyes, so I shrugged my shoulders.   
“They had a falling out earlier. Eren tried to call him but couldn’t get a hold of him.” I shot a sideways glance towards Armin, who looked a little nervous. “He’s not there?” Armin turned to me.

“You saw Levi at the IMF building right?” I nodded. “Did he leave after you?” I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders again, I had no clue. Whether or not he left wasn’t in my control of knowledge. I hadn’t actually bothered to look back at the building.

“Eren said the last place he saw him was at the IMF building. Oh, really? Well, shit.” Armin got up and started to pace. “I’ll ask Eren to call him again, or maybe we can run down to the office really fast? Never mind then. Did you call Hanji?” I looked down towards the ground. Had he disappeared or something? God, I hope he didn’t go jump off the roof of the IMF building or something stupid. It was just a fight. Armin hung up and turned to me.

“You haven’t heard from Levi?” He asked, his voice squeaking a little. I held up my hands.

“Cross my heart. I did try to call him, but it went through all the rings and then to voicemail, so he hadn’t sent me there.” Armin sighed and put his hand to his forehead, biting his lip. “Armin? What’s wrong?” I asked, slowly standing up.

“Erwin can’t find him, apparently he uh, he left the IMF building in “a state.” I nodded. _What was a “state?” Levi was always in a state._

“What do you mean?” I asked, pulling out my phone. I clicked the call button again next to his contact, hoping that he would pick up. I put it on speaker so Armin could hear it go through all of the rings and then go to his voicemail box.

“Erwin said he left in a hurry, and he looked like he was in bad shape.” I nodded.

“Well, as far as I know, he wasn’t suicidal or anything, so I doubt he’s gone somewhere to off himself. Has Erwin tried his apartment?” Armin nodded.

“Door is locked, and he won’t open it if he’s in there. He changed the locks from the last time Erwin was over there.” I winced as Armin said that but was secretly pleased to hear that he had changed the locks. This was okay. This wasn’t a bad situation, he was probably just out for a smoke or for a walk. Or like, he went somewhere quiet. I pursed my lips.

“Ask Erwin for the address to his apartment.” Armin nodded and called Erwin back.

“Hey, we need the address to the apartment. I know you’ve already been there, but Eren wants to go. Okay, I’ll text you his number to send it to him. Do you want me to… Okay never mind, yeah, he should go by himself. Thanks. Yeah, see you soon.” Armin sent out a text next, and within 30 seconds I had the address to Levi’s apartment. It wasn’t far from the IMF building.

“So I’m in this alone?” I asked, staring at the address on my screen. Armin nodded.

“Erwin said he wouldn’t open the door for him, so you’re kind of the last resort here. He doesn’t even know if he’s up there, by the way.” I nodded and started up the route. My phone was wet and my hand was shaking. _It’s not going to be bad._ I told myself as I hugged Armin and headed off on my merry way. _He’s fine._

I all but ran down the streets of DC, dodging tourists and scooting my way onto various buses, trying to reach my destination faster. As soon as I saw the big building, I ran faster. What was I expecting? I wasn’t sure. I still wasn’t convinced that this was a dire situation; he was probably just being a pissbaby somewhere. But Erwin had seemed really worried about him. As much as I disliked Erwin, he seemed to have a steady hand on Levi; he knew where he was at almost all times. Which was weird, but hey, whatever.

The receptionist tried to yell at me as I ran through her foyer; good fucking luck to her. I tapped my foot while I waited for the elevator, pushing past whoever was trying to get out so I could get up there faster. I hadn’t learned before but pushing the elevator button a bunch of times actually _doesn’t_ make it go any faster. _Tch._ The hallway wasn’t long after the elevator reached it’s destination because Levi seemingly had the entire floor to himself. There was just one door. Not giving two shits, I banged my fist on the wooden door as hard as my body would allow. I really threw my entire weight into it. I was met with silence.

I knocked again.

“I know you’re fucking in there, and you’re scaring everyone, so open the damn door, Levi.” I yelled. No response. Again. “Levi! Open the fucking door! Stop being a little bitch and talk to me!”

Nothing. Silence.

My back slid down the door as I crouched into myself. I pulled out my phone and saw that Erwin had texted me another phone number, which I promptly called. Could have been a pizza joint, could have been the mafia. Instead, I was met with the immediate sound of a cell phone ringing on the other side of the door.

Silence again. I had been sent to voicemail.

_That motherfucker was in there._

Rage and tears welled up in my big green eyes as I weakly knocked the back of my skull on the door again, knowing there would be no response. I tried to call the phone number again, but it had been shut off or silenced and sent straight to voicemail. “Levi, please, open the goddamn door and talk to me.” It came out as more of a pleading whine than a command, but I knew it wasn’t going to do anything. He wasn’t going to come out anytime soon.

Pulling out my phone, I looked at the screen through tear filled eyes at our last conversations. He had been a bit off, but it wasn’t like it was really off. An unknown number popped up on my phone; I answered with the reflex speed of a god.

“Eren?” _Shit._

“Hey Hanji. I thought you were going to be someone else.” I weakly laughed as my voice cracked. I wiped a tear from the side of my eye. _Seriously Jaeger? This isn’t that big of a deal. He’s a grown ass man._

“Did you get a hold of him?”

“No, I’m at his apartment.”

“Hmm.” Hanji paused. “You knocked and yelled?”

“I did. Erwin sent me another phone number, which I guess belongs to him. I called it, heard it from beyond the door, and then got sent straight to voicemail. He’s here, I know he is. He just won’t open the door.”

“Hmm. Okay. Thanks Eren.” Hanji hung up quickly, leaving my mouth agape. _What the fuck?_ I groaned and knocked my head back against the door again.

“I swear to _fucking god_ Levi, if you don’t at least let me know you’re alive, both Hanji and Erwin are going to murder me and dump me in the reflection pool.” I weakly chuckled, thinking about the two of them killing me and hiding my body. “And the kicker is, that we both know I wouldn’t be found.” I sighed, staring at the elevator in front of me.

“I know you’re in there, I literally heard you send me to voicemail. You aren’t as slick as you think you are.” My leg was anxiously bouncing and I reeked of BO. My deodorant was once again, failing the one job it was qualified for. My chin found a resting place on top of my knee that was bent into my body, and I wrapped my arms around my shin tightly.

“I know you’re mad.” I began, figuring I might as well talk to him and myself. If he wasn’t there, no harm done, I had made the time pass by more interestingly. If he was there, then maybe he would hear me or something. _That’s stupid_. I knew it was stupid, but I was already here, sitting against the door. There was no way in hell I was going to waste all that time I had spent running over here.

“Look, cut the shit, Levi. We both know you’re there, you’re honestly probably sitting right by the door because you know I’m out here and we both know that both of us fucked up real bad. So, let’s skip the pleasantries and get down to the heart of it.” I chuckled to myself. I enjoyed when Levi let me get a word in, even if I was angry or frustrated or hurt. I knew that the chance of him actually sitting there was slim, but I’d be damned if I didn’t tell him what was on my mind.

Clearing my throat, it was now or never. “I like you Levi. I know I’ve only known you a week or so, but as soon as my eyes saw you angrily glaring at me on the plane, I’ve been borderline obsessed. Not in a creepy way or anything,” I groaned. Even if I was alone, that was embarrassing to admit. “I just think you’re really interesting. Your personality is uniquely _you._ I know you hate talking about your feelings, hell, you pretty much do anything you can to get out of having any sort of emotionally stimulating conversation. Maybe that’s the issue,” I hummed to myself. _Maybe?_

“Do you like me Levi?” _Silence_. It wasn’t like I expected a response. Maybe a sarcastic “No.” Or something. I laughed to myself and hugged my shin closer. “I think you do. I think you’re scared.” My head leaned back to rest on the door. “Even if you don’t want to respond, I know you do. You wouldn’t spend this much time with someone you hated. And even if you hated me, you wouldn’t have texted me at 4AM. There’s something wrong, I know there is.”

My fingers traced the patterns on the tile floor I was seated on. The entire inside of my left cheek was bleeding from the constant chewing, but the pain didn’t bother me much. It was frustrating because I had to switch to the right cheek to chew on. I glanced around the entrance to the apartment. After I had gotten off the elevator, it was pretty much a straight shot. Whatever he actually did, he had a decent chunk of change to afford a place like this. There was a window to my right, so I lifted myself off the tile and walked over to look out the window. It was a beautiful view.

Lips pursed, I let my eyes gaze from left to right. You could really see everything here. Even the… the wraparound patio. I craned my neck to the side and shoved my greasy cheek up against the glass. I would have to clean that off later, Levi would have my ass mounted above the elevator and a warning posted if he saw it. There was a couple of nice-looking pool chairs, a hammock, and… a package of cigarettes on the railing? _And_ a lighter? The porch was closer than I had thought originally. I could totally make out a box of cigarettes and a lighter, both of which I knew full well Levi would never leave outside like that.

Quickly, I held my breath and glanced down to the street below, _just in case._ Luckily, there was no accident to be seen, and I heard no sirens, which was a good sign. It was too busy for Levi to have thrown himself off and not attracted any attention. I turned back to the porch, where the elusive cigarettes and lighter had disappeared. The greasy cheek was once again pushed up against the window in a vain attempt to get a better look at the patio. No luck. I had seen all I could see. Double checking to make sure the cigarettes were actually gone, I backed away from the window. _He was most definitely here._

As quietly as I could, I tiptoed to the door and held my ear against it. There was no movement, but I caught a light whiff of menthol. _He’s fucking in there._ I lowered myself to the ground to see if I could see anything underneath the door, but it was definitely insulated well. There was no chance any light would get through there. He knew what he was doing. My back pressed up to the door again, and I slid down.

“You should really get a vape or something.” I laughed, the smell of menthol getting stronger. “The cigs are a hot look, but sometimes the tobacco smell is a bit much.” It was. It was also getting stronger by the minute. Either he was burning down his apartment with minty tobacco tinder, or he was coming closer to the door.

“Sometimes I don’t know what to do with you. I know you have a valid reason for pulling this whole,” I gestured with my hands, “shebang, but I don’t know what you want from me. I can go fuck off, but we see how that went when I fucked off and you apparently caused a scene in the IMF building.” I thought I heard faint rustling.

“That’s right, I was definitely told about how you walked out of that bitch like you owned the place.” I laughed. “I really should be mad at you for treating me like shit, but I’m more concerned than anything else right now.” I went back to tracing the tiles with my fingers, the menthol smell enveloping me. It smelled like home now. If I closed my eyes really hard, I could faintly smell his cologne too. I may have had minimal brain cells, but I had a good gut feeling that he was right on the other side of the door.

“Is it too much to ask if you’re okay?” I paused, knowing there would be no response. “I know that’s a bit much for our current arrangement, but I had the dogs on me as soon as people couldn’t find you. They already associate me with knowing where you are, so I feel like we’re at _least_ on a “how are you today?” basis, yeah?” I giggled to myself. “Maybe not actually, but it won’t stop me from trying. When have I ever stopped? I usually don’t know _when_ to.

“That’s part of the problem, and I wanted to apologize. I shouldn’t have pushed you this morning. I shouldn’t have come to the office. I don’t know what possessed me, but it was like I _had_ to go there. I don’t know.” I threw up my hands in frustration. “I _knew_ you were going to be absolutely pissed, but it didn’t stop me. It should have, I should have given you space.” I sighed, biting down on my lip. That bitch was chapped too, so it hurt way worse than normal. I opened my mouth to speak again, but I fell backwards and felt a hand dragging me into the apartment. Levi slapped his hand over my mouth, shut the door, locked it, and dragged me into the bathroom.

“Stay here.” He said, looking like he just crawled out of a grave or something. I’d never seen him that disheveled before. His hair was all messed up, his eye bags were darker than normal, he was shaky, and it looked like his nose was bleeding? I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t about to argue. “Don’t say a word. Make a noise and I will personally kill you.” I nodded and covered my mouth with my hands as he turned to leave. He locked the door from the inside, shut off the lights, and walked out, closing it quietly.

I heard him shuffling around and smelt the burning of another cigarette. Man was going to die from lung cancer or a heart attack; either one could come his way at any point if he continued to not sleep and treat himself like shit. He looked like he had given up. I bit harder into my lip as I held my ear up the door. I could only faintly make out some noises, but I most definitely heard the door open.

“What the _fuck_ do you want?” I heard Levi hiss through his teeth. Whoever the other person was, they were talking quietly, while Levi was nearly yelling.

“I literally couldn’t give less of a shit about the verbal diarrhea you’re giving me.” I heard him groan.

“Levi, you can’t do that.” _Erwin?_ “I told you, you couldn’t do this.” My ear was pressed up to the door now. “We agreed that you would work there for just a bit longer before we could get you out and with a clean file. Now that you’ve gone fucking rogue on us, I won’t be able to convince Mike and Moblit to let you go. You’re going to have to do some serious explaining, or you’re just going to have to resign to the fact that you fucked up your life. _Again._ ” I heard the shattering of glass.

“Get the fuck out of my house, Erwin. You’ve done enough.” I heard a loud thump.

“Obviously I haven’t, because you’re still losing your goddamn mind, and you’ve just gotten us both fucked with Shadis now because of this. Wipe your nose off.” I heard more glass.

“I told you to get the _fuck_ out. I already fucked it up, it’s done. I’ll do whatever the fuck they want me to do, I can’t work in HR anymore, it’s fucking worse than trying to not exist as a person.” Erwin laughed from the bottom of his lungs.

“Why are you so pissed off? I literally saved your ass from prison.” _Oh, fuck._

“I’m pissed off because you took me from the only thing I was good at, got me arrested for it, then decided to make me your little boy toy in exchange for a “job.” Then, you got me stuck in _fucking_ HR, where everyone there knows I know jack shit about humans and even less about resources. God, is it too much to ask to even do what I’m good at? Who the hell do I need to speak to? I’m tired of going through you.” Glass shattered again.

“Get the hell out. Toss me in federal prison, I don’t give a shit. But just know that I haven’t lost anything that I had, and it won’t be the best idea to arrest me. I don’t want you anymore, I never wanted you in the first place. I don’t need you to constantly come to my goddamn rescue like I’m some sort of damsel in distress.”

“I’m trying to come to your rescue, I’m just trying to help you.”

“You’ve done enough. Erwin, you’ve done more than enough. You’ve done more than anyone should have done, and now I’m in this fucking mess.” Erwin chuckled again.

“This is on you. You’re the one who got caught.”

“Not my fucking fault I was ratted out.”

“Your fault for allowing the wrong company.”

“If you don’t get the hell out of my apartment right now, I’ll show you what the wrong company is. I’ll kick your ass right here and make it look like a suicide, do you _really_ want to go there?”

“Levi, piss off. You won’t kill me. You’re not in any shape to do it effectively anyway.”

“Get the _fuck off of me!_ ”

I heard more glass shattering, a loud thud, and a door closing. How long I waited, I wouldn’t have been able to say. I hadn’t received any text messages or any indication that it was okay to come out, but I had to have been sitting in there for over an hour after I stopped hearing noises.

_Click._

“I think he’s gone.” That was a voice I only vaguely recognized.

“He trashed his apartment. That’s not like him.” A voice I didn’t recognize, it was a bit less gruff.

“Go see what you can find on his computer and I’m going to grab the rest of the files he has somewhere in here.” I heard heavy shoes on the tile floors. They came closer to the bathroom and I held my breath. _Please, please don’t open the door._

“Hey, bathroom’s locked. Maybe he’s in here.” _Fuck! Fuck._ There was no place in here to hide, there was no bathtub, no cabinets, no nothing. Just a toilet, a sink, and a door. Much to my always awe-inspiring luck, the door opened.

“Oh my god.” A taller man with brown hair looked down at me. He shook his head. “He’s a fucking lunatic, Mike, he’s got a kid in here.” _That was the voice I recognized._

“I thought I smelled him in here.” Mike came around to look at me and offered a hand up. “How much did you hear?”

“Uh, not much. I was looking for him after he uh, disappeared, I guess. He let me in and shoved me in here and left.” The other man looked at Mike.

“Do you know where he went? Did he say anything?”

_“Wasn’t my fault I got ratted out.”_

“No, I didn’t hear anything, He walked around, smashed some stuff, and left. I literally saw him for all of five minutes.” I was lying through my teeth, and I was almost positive that Mike knew. Mike nodded to the man next to him.

“We have to take him with, Moblit.” The brown-haired dude, Moblit, I guess, nodded.

“Come on kid. Let’s go. You can come back here later on when we figure out what the fuck is happening. Do you live here with him?” I shook my head. Moblit sighed in relief.

“Good, man’s a fucking weirdo.” Moblit whispered, walking away with a big folder of files. I looked at Mike, who was looking straight ahead.

“Do you know where he keeps anything?” Mike asked, looking down at me. I shrugged and shook my head.

“This is the first time I’ve been here, sir.” Mike laughed.

“You don’t need to call me sir.” I nervously laughed. _I wasn’t being arrested, was I?_ Moblit motioned for Mike to come towards him. There were some whispers and glances exchanged between the two of them while I looked around the apartment. It was bare, but nice. Very… clean. Not a lot of life, kind of like his office. It was spacious and modern, just like Levi. Everything was a nice calming gray or blue color. There were a couple of doors to rooms here and there, but it seemed like a fairly open floor plan.

Mike turned to me. “So, how long have you known him?” I thought for a moment.

“Honestly? About a week.” Moblit nodded. Mike nodded at Moblit.

“Is there a specific reason you were looking for him?” Moblit asked, crossing his arms.

“We met at a Model UN Conference.” Moblit scoffed.

“Was he paying you?”

“What? No? What the hell does that mean?” Mike shook his head and put a hand on Moblit’s shoulder.

“That’s not why we’re here. You can duke it out with Levi some other time. Let the kid be.” _Thanks, Mike._

“Eren, did he tell you anything about what he does?” Mike asked. I shook my head.

“No, not really. Something has been setting him off recently though. The last two days he’s been really weird.”

“He’s basically the next generation Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning mixed with Gary Webb.” I nodded, knowing vaguely who those people are. “He tells people government secrets.” My eyes widened. _No fucking way._

“You just fucking told him; you can’t do that.” Moblit said, slapping Mike’s arm. Mike rolled his eyes.

“Relax. He’s fine.”

“He’s Grisha’s fucking son.”

“Oh yeah.” Mike rubbed at his chin.

“What about my dad?”

“Nothing. Do you want to like, grab one of his shirts or something? He might not be back for a little while.” I scrunched up my face, Moblit was kind of blunt.

“Where’s he going?” I gulped. Mike looked at me.

“I don’t think he’s going to prison or anything, but he’s going to be in some offices for quite some time explaining his little charade.” Mike ushered me around. “Go grab some shit that reminds you of him; he won’t die, but I know he’ll be happier knowing that you know that he’s alive and have some of his shit.” I nodded. This was weird. This was a really weird situation, and I didn’t really have any thoughts that progressed past that simple statement. As much as I wanted to use all of my brain power, all I could hear was TV static as I aimlessly wandered around Levi’s house.

I opened a door to his bedroom, where his bed was neatly made. Inside his closet I found a bunch of really nice-looking suits and dress shirts. It was a beautiful walk-in closet with all of those organizer things. He had a shelf towards the back with a bunch of more casual looking clothes. A t-shirt would be sufficient, right? I rifled through them, hoping to find one that still smelled like him. Smiling, I chose a green one that had some weird college logo on it. It smelled exactly like him. As I walked out of the closet, I walked around his room and lightly dragged my fingertips across the smooth furniture. Everything was organized so well, so perfectly. I was surprised Levi didn’t have legitimate OCD or something; it looked like every single item he owned had a particular place it belonged.

I opened his drawers, because I’m nosy, and was met with socks, underwear, and pajamas. I took a pair of blue pajama pants as well, holding them in my arms, because why the hell not? He wasn’t going to wear them anyway. I heard Mike and Moblit talking, so I continued looking through Levi’s stuff. He had a cool little jewelry box, filled with cuff links, watches, and a few fancy looking class rings. Mikasa had a box that looked just like this.

Just for fun, I lifted up the top portion to see what was underneath; I remembered that Mikasa used to hide stuff underneath it in hers. One time, I found weed, and she about killed me. I still laugh when I think about it, one, because my sister was not the type to smoke, and two, because I had found it. It’s always funny finding someone else’s stash. To my surprise, I was met with a key on a necklace chain. I picked it up and spun it around, squinting my eyes to look at it. It was fairly intricate, whatever lock it went to would be hard to pick without the key. I pocketed it switched my objective to finding whatever the key was for, suddenly sweatier because I had some very obvious contraband in my pocket.

I walked into another room that looked like a gigantic server room. It was a PC gamer’s wet dream—A huge, expensive desktop with four monitors sat on top of an enormous desk. The tower connected to them was huge and was still on, it glowed a faint green color. I sat down in his chair and spun it around. It didn’t seem like Mike or Moblit were looking for me. I idly moved his mouse around, not expecting the computer to whirr to life. It was password protected and looked _nothing_ like any computer I had ever used. It was so boring, so blank. It looked like a watered-down Windows 98 or something from the stone age. There were various notes and papers strewn across his desk, which I tried to read, but they were scribbled in shorthand. The only way I knew was that Armin’s grandmother had tried to teach me how to write it when she was talking about the good ol’ days when she was a secretary.

I picked up a giant pair of headphones, which weighed like, ten pounds. How his delicate little head held these up, I would never know. I’m sure they sounded great, the fucking audio jack on them was about 10 times larger than the one that would go into a phone. I stood up again, figuring that it would look weird to pilfer his nice headphones, and headed towards a generic office room. Mike and Moblit waved to me but continued to talk in the living room while I walked around.

This office wasn’t very cool, unlike the PC office. Just a plain desk and some papers. They looked like official documents, but they obviously weren’t filed or anything. I looked around some more and opened up the closet, where a ton of blankets fell on top of my head. _Shit._ Doing my best to gather them up, I shoved them back into the closet as best as I could, but not before catching a glimpse of a little locked box at my foot. It wasn’t hidden or anything, all of the blankets had been up real high. It was just… out, and on the floor? I grabbed the key in my pocket and attempted the lock, holding my breath.

My eyes grew wide as the top sprung open, revealing the world’s tiniest MicroSD card or something. It was seriously like the size of a grain of rice. There was also a picture of him and his mom, and him and some older dude. And a friendship bracelet? I left the personal affects and took the little memory card, carefully sliding it in between my phone and the case on it. _Shit, what if it demagnetizes?_ _Do electronics do that?_ I shook it off and put the key back in my pocket again.

Clearing my throat, I announced my return. Moblit smirked at me and gestured to Levi’s clothes in my hands.

“He’s not dead, you know. Find everything you wanted?” I nodded, really hoping that the weird look on Mike’s face was due to my BO and not him sniffing out bullshit or something. Mike’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing as he led us out of the room. As we swung open the door, we were met by Erwin.

“Oh, hello boys.” He said, smirking. “What’s the party for?”

“You know what it’s for.” Erwin shrugged at Mike, then looked at me.

“Didn’t find him?” I shook my head. Erwin nodded, but I knew that he knew that I knew. What a mouthful. He had knowledge I had heard him. That sounded better. Erwin cleared his own throat and gestured towards me. “Do you need him?” Moblit looked at Mike and ran his stupid fucking mouth.

“He was locked in the bathroom.” Erwin’s enormous eyebrows moved upwards towards his perfect hairline.

“Is that so?” That piece of shit knew I was there. “Did he see Levi leave?” Moblit shook his head and Mike glanced towards me. I saw his lip twitch. _What was he trying to tell me?_ Erwin spoke up again.

“If he didn’t see Levi leave, or know where Levi went, you should probably let him go before his dad gets word of this.” Moblit shook his head more aggressively.

“We don’t know if he’s lying.” Erwin hummed.

“Take him to Hanji and see what she can get out of him then. She’ll figure it out.” His icy blue eyes were piercing into mine, and suddenly, I was scared. Why was Hanji involved? Wasn’t she friends with all of them? She definitely liked Levi; it was highly unlikely she had been faking this whole time. Maybe it was Erwin who was?

“Fine.” Moblit grabbed my arm. “Let’s go, we’re going to meet with the jackal herself.” I gulped.

“What is she going to do?” Moblit sighed and dragged me onto the elevator, Mike and Erwin following behind him.

“Hopefully not test out her new truth serum on you.”

“So do I get a phone call and a lawyer, or?” I drawled out, hoping that I could call Armin or my dad. Actually, not my dad. These people seemed scared of him. Moblit snorted.

“Kid has some humor. Maybe that’s another reason Levi keeps him around.” He said to Mike. Erwin rolled his eyes and Mike chuckled quietly. I took the lack of an affirmative response as a “no,” I would not be getting a phone call, lawyer, or Miranda rights.

Ushering me into a car, we drove away. I looked at Levi’s apartment longingly.

“Give me your phone.” Moblit said, his hand outstretched. I stuttered.

“Am I going to get it back?” Moblit just looked at me. “Uh, okay, can I keep the phone case though? It’s my best friend’s and I don’t want to let him down or anything.” I saw Erwin’s eyes met mine in the rear-view mirror.

“I don’t give a shit about the case, keep it. I just need the device.” I nodded and carefully took the case off, making sure to preserve the RiceSD card. It was tiny, honestly too tiny for my liking. It was going to get lost. I put it with the phone case into the internal pocket of my suitcoat, making sure that it was tucked away safely.

Levi was okay. He had to be. He had left with Erwin, who was here now, with Mike and Moblit, pretending he hadn’t seen Levi earlier. They were taking me to Hanji. Something was weird. If I had to put money on it, Erwin was covering for Levi again because he did something he shouldn’t have, and maybe Hanji didn’t know the whole story? _Ugh._ I sighed and looked out the window, hoping that Levi wasn’t undergoing any sort of “enhanced interrogation.” Was this really that big of a deal?

This escalated quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think i know where i want this to go. i kinda juggled a few different ideas in my mind, but i think this one is the best out of all of them. i hope the story is progressing nicely to you guys as well! its really fun to write and imagine my babies in this situations. and yes, we'll get back to our scheduled ereri soon <3
> 
> also still unbeta'd bc i 1. dont have one and 2. need to go play sound voltex 
> 
> comments and kudos always welcome, i love responding to you guys !! as always, thank you for all the support


	13. Is it wrong to pick up Levi in a basement?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi learns a bit more about his situation, and Eren figures out what the hell is possibly going on. Also, Erwin has a secret breakdown room

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not much to say about this one other than i really enjoyed writing it! im also looking forward to the next chapter, when we have a ahem, a reuinion of sorts

_Levi_

My head _hurt._ It hurt fucking bad from all of the alcohol and cocaine my fucked-up brain allowed me to have. _At the same time, no less._ Mixing the two was a one-way ticket to an easy cardiac arrest, but I wasn’t actually sure it mattered at this point.

I had definitely overreacted, and frankly, I was beyond embarrassed for my little office stunt, for basically telling Eren to fuck off, and for making an ass out of myself in front of Erwin. Of course, he put me in fucking time-out in the basement of his office at his building while he went to “clean up the mess.”

I brought my fingers up to massage my aching temples. The least the bastard could have done was supply me with some fucking headache medication; or did I not deserve that either? _God._ What was I even thinking? Lost my job, lost seeing Eren’s pretty little face, Erwin was pissed as hell, and now I was going to have Mike sniffing down my fucking neck for the next three months during _another_ probationary period. I groaned into my hands, ignoring my gross sweaty forehead touching my palms.

All I had done was have a nervous breakdown, and it wasn’t like that was _uncommon_ or anything in the profession I was lumped into. I had seen Hanji break down like this before, along with Mike, and even _Erwin_ for god’s sake. It wasn’t like this was a rare occurrence for anyone who worked in a government office in any capacity. People who pushed paperwork while dealing with stuck-up, constipated, piece-of-shit foreign government employees were _bound_ to lose it at some point.

But _no,_ steal some government secrets _one time_ , and suddenly you’re never allowed to have a bad day. Even when they stick you in the human resources office, when they know you hate people and hate paperwork. Tired gray eyes rolled into the back of my skull in a vain attempt to release the building pressure. If you’ve never had a headache like this, let me be clear when I say that it sounded far more pleasant to blow my brains out against Erwin’s fucking concrete wall than sit here any longer.

Pulling myself up, I leaned back to pop some of my vertebrae to hopefully loosen myself a little bit before taking a lap around the basement. Erwin wasn’t a basement dweller, but he did have a “secret” office down here for when shit got real at his job. He worked with chemical weapons and different defense departments across the states, so it made sense that he needed a place to have his own private breakdowns. I hadn’t been afforded the luxury of any sort of private space at the IMF. I shrugged and popped a K-cup into his coffee machine in the corner of the room. There were no windows, and it wasn’t exactly “cozy.” It looked a bit stale, which said a lot coming from a guy with almost no personal touches in any place he resided.

I plopped my ass down in his leather office chair and twirled around. I didn’t have an excuse for my behavior, and I knew once the investigation was over, I’d be cleared and transferred back to another department, so I wasn’t exactly in deep shit. I worried about Eren though. _Shit._ I had nearly forgotten that I’d left him in the bathroom. Erwin said he was going to go back and grab him along with some of my stuff; hopefully, Big Brow managed to get there in time before Mike smelled his way to my shit. Knowing Mike, I knew he would end up bringing Moblit too, who normally worked with Hanji, but always came with Mike “onto the field.” Mike worked in the crime and justice department, and Moblit worked in the chemical portion of the drugs and crime department. He had met Hanji this way.

I hadn’t actually ever dealt or made drugs in my life before, but because of the “crime” portion and Moblit’s professional boner for Mike, he would be there anyway, trying to pin anything and everything on me due to my loose involvement in the dark web at one point. Hanji loved me, but Moblit did not, despite how close the two were. I wasn’t sure why, I rarely talked to the guy and avoided him at almost all costs. He had a strange aura around him, but I wasn’t exactly sure what it was. I wasn’t claiming to be a saint myself, but even I was able to make decisions regarding sketchy characters.

After my coffee had finished squirting out of the machine with that god-awful squelching noise, I grabbed the mug and pulled out a cigarette. There weren’t any smoke alarms down here, as Erwin occasionally smoked when he was angry as well, which I was grateful for as I blew a big cloud from my lungs. _Heh._ Maybe I should invest in a vape or something, like Eren said. At least he hadn’t read me the riot act about how I was “killing my lungs” like nearly everyone else. Hanji never let me have enough of that shit.

I went back to the desk chair and spun around again, only slightly nauseous from the chemical concoction in my stomach. I hadn’t actually drunk that much, but just enough that I was inebriated enough to scream at Erwin. He took it surprisingly well. I nodded to myself and pursed my lips. _Definitely shouldn’t have thrown my nice glassware at him._ Figured now was as good of a time as any to boot up Erwin’s computer and check the news or some shit. It wasn’t like I was doing anything else, I had already admitted my mistake and I knew better than to lie to whoever was going to be in charge of me next. Previously, it was Pixis, but they’d probably bump me up one to Shadis, who was basically the equivalent of the Secretary General. He ran pretty much all intelligence operations in the country and worked closely with Pixis and President Reiss. I rolled my eyes again, grimacing at the fact I would have nearly no privacy for 90 days.

Seeing nothing of immediate concern on the news, I turned my attention towards the phone on the desk and tried to remember Eren’s cell phone number. I cursed my poor memory and poor decisions when I drew a blank. I really hoped the kid was okay, and I _really_ hoped he wouldn’t hate me forever. He sucked a mean cock, I had to admit. _That’s not the only reason I like him_. I shuddered to think that I was definitely developing feelings for the kid. I had originally intended for him to be pretty much as Erwin described, just a fun office assistant fuck for when life got too hectic.

However, we had spent more time just talking and being around each other than doing anything sexual, and goddamnit, as it turned out, I wasn’t immune to emotions like I had originally thought. I had just never been close enough to someone to develop any. _Maybe._ Maybe I was just lonely or something. _I should get a cat. Will Mike let me get a cat?_ I wondered and talked to myself out loud. I heard the beeping of the electronic keys up towards the entrance to the staircase and straightened myself up. I left the cigarette lit though, because I knew I was going to need the nicotine to deal with whoever was headed into my office. I had been expecting Erwin.

I was not expecting Shadis. I internally groaned and flatlined my expressions. He wasn’t a bad man, but he wasn’t very nice. Neither was I. You know what they say about two similar personalities—it usually doesn’t end very well. This was the current situation.

“Well, look who fucked up again.” He welcomed, smiling teasingly. “And here I thought you were done with your little antics.” I rolled my eyes.

“ _Tch._ You _wish_ I was done.” I started at the man in silence as he came towards me. His bald head and beady eyes were unsettling. The skin on his skull shone in the dim lighting.

“Actually, I don’t.” He said, lighting his own cigarette and walking towards the desk. I put my feet up on top of it. He wouldn’t dare say anything about it, he was just as degenerate as me in certain regards, mainly where we both had no respect for other people’s personal space or property. He blew smoke in my face and put a tan hand on the desk. “We actually need you.”

My left eyebrow arched while my impassive mask broke for a split second. I came to my senses and narrowed my eyes. “You need me?” He nodded and blew more smoke towards me. I repeated the same action towards him, glaring. Two very disturbed individuals using tobacco smoke to assert dominance. Millions of years of animal evolution had developed advanced and flashy mating and alpha rituals, and here we were, top of the food chain, destroying our lungs and passive-aggressively covering the other person in half-absorbed particles of burning leaves.

“We do, which pains me greatly to say.” He put a hand over his heart, as if he was hurt. I shook my head and pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers.

“What?” I asked, eyes closed. “What do you need me for? Because I swear to god, if it’s some fucking HR shit I will kill you right now, I have no issues with it.” Shadis let out a small chuckle and released his grip from the table, opting to walk around while looking everywhere but at me.

“Reiss thinks we have an issue. His personal intelligence team is fairly useless, so we need someone to help.” I nodded slowly, opening my gray eyes to slits that I could barely see out of.

“Sounds like a load of horse shit.” I replied, leaning back. “I don’t think so.” Shadis shrugged and looked at me.

“You don’t have to believe me, but yeah. Are we disappointed at your lack of self-restraint? Absolutely. Do we think you’re expendable? We don’t. As unfortunate as that is.” He said with a sigh. Like I said, we weren’t fond of each other. I licked my teeth.

“So what, you need me to go grab some guy’s iPhone and rifle through it like some high school kid looking for his buddy’s girlfriend’s nudes?” I snorted, as did Shadis. We did have a similar taste in horrible humor, which made this whole ordeal a little better.

“It’ll be a little bit more difficult than that, but you’re already fairly close to the person we need some more information on.” I leaved forward this time, resting my elbows on the dark wood of Erwin’s “breakdown” desk.

“Who?” I asked, genuinely curious. I wasn’t especially close to anyone who I didn’t already know most details about.

“Grisha Jaeger.” I stopped breathing for a split second.

“You want me to background check him?” I asked, ignoring the fact that obviously the higher-ups knew about Eren and I. _Whatever._ It wasn’t like I was going to stop or change my behavior. Shadis turned around again, nodding.

“Not only that, but we need to know more information about his skillset.” I bit the tip of my tongue.

“He’s going for a promotion, right? Don’t you already have people background checking him?”

“He’s a smart guy. He would be working with Hanji and Moblit in the labs and would be reporting to Mike.”

“Fucking creep.” I mumbled.

“Funny, he says the same about you.” I rolled my eyes and shrugged my shoulders. Moblit was weird. So was Mike, but mostly Moblit.

“So, where am I going then?” Shadis rubbed the tiny amount of facial hair on his chin, a pathetic excuse for a goatee. I didn’t grow much facial hair either, but at least I didn’t pretend like I did.

“I’m thinking Nile Dok over in Intelligence.” I hummed in approval. Nile was a smart man, but I didn’t know him well. He ran his own department and answered only to President Reiss, which made him a fairly safe person to report to. “You’ll probably be placed in either the CIA or FBI as a slight “not-lying-but-still-a-cover” cover.” I hummed again, nodding this time. This wasn’t so bad.

“I’ll get to use a real computer?” I asked, scoffing at the pathetic excuse of a laptop my feet currently rested on. Laptops had their use, but they would never be as good as a well-built and cared for PC. Shadis chuckled.

“Yes, Levi, you will be able to use a _real computer._ ” I smiled and nodded in approval. Taking a sip of my coffee and a drag of my cigarette, I moved the chair side to side with my legs.

“Does anyone else know?” Shadis turned to face me again and walked closer.

“I’m not sure. The only one who discussed this with me was Reiss himself. I’m sure Erwin will get an earful, but I’m thinking that Mike, Hanji, and Moblit won’t be told. I’m sure they’ll figure it out, but I don’t think Reiss wants to tell anyone directly.” He paused for a second, sucking on his cigarette. “See, most of those people think you’re in deep shit right now for flipping off the IMF and causing a scene.” I inhaled and nodded, face grim. He wasn’t wrong.

“Any reason it’s such a secret?” I inquired, cocking my head and raising an eyebrow from behind my mug. Shadis shrugged.

“Reiss thinks that Jaeger is sketchy.” I lifted my chin.

“How so?”

“I don’t really know. He said that the initial background check came up a little wonky. He didn’t really explain but said that his degree and post-graduate research was a little suspicious, especially when trying to weasel his way into the biological sciences sector.”

“What, was his potato clock weird or something?” I snorted at my own joke, which was poorly made, as I knew nothing about science that wasn’t computer related. Shadis shook his head.

“First of all, that didn’t even make sense. Second, he did a lot of experimentation on stem cells, which you know Hanji has been working on for our soldiers. His work, however, differed from Hanji’s. She wanted to help people heal faster, while Jaeger was specifically trying to design the real-life equivalent of the Super Soldier Serum.” I snorted.

“Really? That’s science fiction.” Shadis shrugged.

“He couldn’t get it done because his lab at grad school and then his lab during med school had too much oversight. Unfortunately, you know how Hanji runs her lab. She can get her crafty little hands on anything and knows everyone. It wouldn’t be hard for her to get attached to Jaeger due to your own… _relationship_ with his son, with her being your friend and all. We both know she goes above and beyond for her friends. I think it’s a safe assumption to believe that she would be interested in this idea.” The bastard smirked at me.

I made a non-committal grunt and stood up, stretching out my back again. _Whatever._ “So, when do I start?” I asked, sticking my cigarette butt in the half-drunk mug that I placed neatly on top of Erwin’s laptop.

“Pretty much as soon as I can figure out where Erwin and Mike and Moblit took Eren to.” I instinctively bit the inside of my mouth.

“They _took_ Eren? He had nothing to do with this.” I stated, walking closer to Shadis. “They need to let him go; he did nothing wrong.” Shadis laughed.

“Then it should be no issue if they ask him a few questions.” _Damn._ Eren was an honest kid. He didn’t know much about me, but I doubt he had it in him to lie. “Also, Mike and Moblit were supposed to go sweep your apartment. So, just so you know.” I groaned and smacked my forehead with my palm.

“Fucking animals.” I sighed. “Let’s go get them.” I said, walking towards the door. Shadis raised an eyebrow.

“Eager, are we? We aren't going to get him. You'll be talking to Nile, and you can request it from him.”

I grunted again and mumbled that he was a jerk under my breath, to which he laughed.

“You’re a jerk too, you know?” He replied.

I knew.

_Eren_

I had dubbed Moblit “Mr. Nosy” and Mike “The Bloodhound.” The entire car ride to whatever undisclosed location we were headed to, Mike was smelling me, and Moblit was asking me a lot of very personal questions, which was wildly uncomfortable. Of course, Mr. America sat there in the front, occasionally glancing back towards me with only a hint of concern in his sky-blue eyes. _Yuck._ This was a shitty situation.

Nothing of particular interest happened while we drove; it was more so just awkward. Moblit wasn’t getting anywhere with his questions, and Mike made a lot of comments about how nice I smelled. I bit the insides of my already chewed up cheeks in an attempt not to pop off at them. I really hated people like these two. _Please, don’t smell me and ask me weird questions when we just met. At least buy me dinner first, jeez._

I hoped Levi was okay. I knew Erwin had taken him somewhere, and I knew Mike and Moblit didn’t exactly know that he was wherever Erwin took him. Or so I assumed. Erwin’s phone began ringing, which he picked up quicker than anyone I had ever seen.

“Yeah?” He asked, looking in the mirror to catch my eyes. “Okay. Good to know. I’ll make sure I put that down. Thank you.” He ended the call but said nothing. His eyes were trying to say something to me, but I wasn’t adept enough at reading irises to understand. He cleared his throat.

“I have to make a pit stop with Eren. You two are released for the day once we stop. There’s no further questions needed.” Mike cocked an eyebrow while Moblit straight up refused.

“That’s bull. We aren’t letting him go, he’s the only one that knows enough about that mink.” Erwin shook his head.

“You’ll let him go if you want your job.” Moblit looked dejected. This was turning around quickly, and I was confused. What was all the hoopla for?

“Alright, so who’s taking him?” Mike asked, scratching his head in confusion. Erwin grunted and shrugged his huge shoulders.

“It really isn’t any of our business. I was told to drop him off at a street corner if you need to know.” Never mind, this situation didn’t seem like it was over. I gulped and looked out the window. We weren’t far from DC, but we were still a bit outside of the bounds where public transport would have been a safe bet for me to go home. It was a nice area still, but I wouldn’t be able to escape on foot if I was to be dropped off.

“You don’t know who’s picking him up?” Moblit asked, surprise written all over his stupid, nosy face. Erwin nodded.

“I don’t know. Like I said, it’s none of our business.” This was the cue for Mike and Moblit to stop asking questions. Erwin continued to face forward and stopped about a mile after the phone call. It was just a non-descript street in the middle of a smaller town. “This is you.” He said, motioning for me to exit. I hesitated a bit, before Moblit handed me my phone back. I nodded and said a quiet “thanks” before unlocking the car door and stepping out. _Was it appropriate to wave to them on the way out?_ I decided against the wave as they sped off.

Standing at the corner lamely, I looked around. It was a town right outside of DC, a little more historical and less busy. I wasn’t sure where I was, but it definitely didn’t look like a bad area. My legs took me walking in circles, as I held onto Levi’s clothes in my hands. Within 15 minutes, a black sedan pulled up and a dark-haired man in sunglasses called my name. My head whipped around at the sudden noise.

“That’s me.” I said, trying to peer into the car. He had a light dusting of facial hair and looked aggressive. He jabbed his thumb to motion to the backseat.

“Get in.” I nodded, figuring that this wasn’t going to get any worse at this point. What did I have to lose? I stepped into the sedan, which was impeccably clean. The light leather seats smelled brand new and there were no traces of stains on the floor. In fact, it looked like the car had never been used before today.

“Hi.” I said, giving the driver a small smile. He pulled down his sunglasses and peered at me in the rear-view mirror like Erwin. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. _Okay._ I said nothing else. It wasn’t worth the energy, he obviously was unimpressed with me. It’s not like I was underdressed, I was still dressed in my nice clothes from earlier when I had gone to catch Levi at work. Maybe it was the massive pile of clothes in my hands? Who knew.

He looked at me again and pursed his lips, like he was studying me, analyzing my face. I gave a weak smile, and he narrowed his eyes in response.

“Your dad is Grisha Jaeger.” He man stated, voice deep, but not gruff. It was actually quite smooth, kind of like Erwin’s. I nodded.

“Yep.” The man hummed.

“You look like him.” I nodded.

“Genetics, right?” I laughed. The man driving did not. _Oops._

“Do you like science as well, kid?” He peered back at me in the mirror again. I shook my head.

“Not in the least. I was a polisci major, I barely passed statistics in college. I would have burned down any biology lab I went into.” I laughed and rubbed my forearm. The man nodded.

“Did you enjoy it?”

“Pardon?”

“Did you enjoy studying political science?” I paused for a moment at the question.

“Yeah, I did actually. It was really interesting. I’m actually here with my dad, I joined him to see a Model UN conference that he was a guest at.”

“I know.” The man stated. My body went still. “I didn’t say that to freak you out.” He added, which did nothing to calm me. I was still very much so freaked out by the fact this man knew my name, my dad, my dad’s interests, and why I was here.

“May I ask how you know these things?” I questioned, raising an eyebrow. “It’s okay if not, but I’m a little curious. I haven’t seen you around at the conferences, and this day has been a little… _weird_ , to say the least.” The man cleared his throat.

“I work in intelligence. I’m Nile.” I nodded. That made more sense, of _course_ he would know. He was probably my NSA agent or something. Hopefully he hadn’t seen all the suspicious searches I had looked up recently in an attempt to seduce Levi. _I don’t need to talk to this man about that._

“Cool. Do you like it?” I asked, trying my best to keep conversation flowing and light. I got nervous easily in situations like this, so small talk made me feel more at ease. Nile could tell, as he was obviously trying to keep me at least a little bit entertained.

“I do. It’s neat, I get to see a lot of stuff.” I hummed.

“I’m sure.” I bit my lip. “So, are like, the NSA agents that people joke about actually real? Are they actually assigned to us?” Nile let out a light laugh, which was a lot more easy-going than I expected. It was a very natural and genuine laugh, and he even _smiled_. If I’d learned anything in my week in politics, it’s that people rarely gave genuine smiles.

“It’s not totally true. You’d have to set off a tip first, and then someone would do some research to see if you’ve made any strange contacts, calls, or purchases within the last six months. We look for stuff like bomb or drug components, large scale chemical purchases, firearms purchases, and access to the dark web by IP address.” I nodded. _In the clear._

“That’s cool. Do you guys often catch bad guys?” Nile laughed again, his light brown eyes twinkling. He pulled out a cigarette (seriously, does everyone smoke in politics? Goddamn,) and smiled to me.

“We do, we catch bad guys a lot. In fact, Levi is going to help us figure out if we need to catch another one.” I smiled really big. _Levi isn’t in trouble?_

“So, he’s not in trouble?” I asked curiously. If Nile worked in intelligence, and knew who I was, he most _definitely_ knew about Levi and our relationship. He probably also knew that Levi was god-knows-where. Nile was courteous and opened up the window just a crack to blow the smoke out. It was still a strong smell, but at least he hadn’t hotboxed me.

“He is. He’s in huge trouble. Fortunately for him, his actions happened at an opportune time to where we could easily transfer him to where he’d be more reliable.” I nodded.

“What does Levi actually do?” I asked, cocking my head. I mean, it was obvious he wasn’t actually an HR rep. Armin had tipped me off, and no HR rep would have a team of government agents on his back after he walked out of a day at work. Mike and Moblit had told me he sold government secrets or something, which also didn’t seem like the full story. Nile hummed.

“He’s a smart man who was a little too smart for his own good. He decided he wanted to take some people down but didn’t take into account the people he was working with were people who worked for who he was targeting. He ended up getting in a lot of trouble after releasing some information about various military activities.” I nodded. “He’s not a bad man at all, just so you know. We aren’t doing this because we hate him. He’s a valuable asset, and like I said, just brilliant. Difficult, but brilliant. We need him in specific for this because we need a man who knows his way around a computer.” I nodded again when Nile looked back at me. “We also need him because he’s close to you.” I raised an eyebrow.

“Excuse me? Have I done something?” Nile shook his head and pursed his lips, as if he was trying to decide if he should tell me something. He had already told me a lot and explained a lot of what I had questions about. He opened his mouth, but closed it again, to open it only to suck on his cigarette and tap ash out the window. He opened his mouth again.

“Are you staying with your father?” He asked, looking at my eyes. I shook my head.

“No, he put me up in a room with one of my best friends.” Nile nodded.

“How much contact do you have with him?” I shrugged. _Not much._

“Honestly, not a lot. He was… kind of a deadbeat dad for a while. He suddenly reappeared a couple weeks ago around my birthday to see if I wanted to join him on this trip. He’s asked me to come before, but I didn’t really want to, because, you know, he kinda ditched out on most of my childhood.” Nile grimaced.

“Sorry kid, I didn’t mean to ask something like that if it would upset you. I didn’t know.” I cleared my throat.

“It’s okay, it’s not a secret or anything. We don’t really talk much and most of our conversations are really awkward anyway.”

“So, basically, we think your dad has something up his sleeve.” I choked on my own spit.

“What?”

“We think that he’s attempting this promotion to have access to Ms. Hanji’s lab, because it has very little oversight and a lot of equipment and difficult-to-obtain chemicals. Do you know what your father’s graduate research was?” He asked, that curious twinkle in his eyes.

“No, he never told me anything about his research.”

“You know Captain America, right?” I nodded.

“Of course, who doesn’t?” I refrained from making a joke about Erwin.

“Well, he was trying to make a super soldier serum like in Captain America for his post-grad research but couldn’t complete it due to a lack of materials and subjects.” I hummed.

“That’s actually pretty awesome.” I laughed, thinking about injecting Levi and seeing him grow to be taller. “I mean, it’s kinda bad too, but it would also be a cool idea.” Nile laughed.

“It sounds cool, but what isn’t cool is the fact that he’s lying to us about why he wants the promotion. We have reason to believe he would sell the technology to other governments. I can’t really explain why yet, but he has some of those interesting contacts I was telling you about.” _Hmm._

“Could we use it on our soldiers?” I asked, leaning forward in my seat. “I mean, that would be a huge advantage if it actually worked, right?” Nile pursed his lips and shrugged, raising his eyebrows.

“Honestly? It’s bad ass. But it’s not safe for humans, and it doesn’t seem like he wants to run trials on animals. Ms. Hanji runs her lab very… _loosely._ She would probably be okay with him testing it out on humans.” He hit the cigarette again. “Unfortunately, the government has been in one too many of these testing predicaments, and ever since researchers have set up a code of ethics on human tests, we have to take extra precautions to ensure we aren’t caught in that crossfire again.”

“That makes sense.” I replied, looking out the window again. It didn’t really feel bad to hear that about my dad. I wasn’t close enough to him for it to matter, and now I was really curious. “So, can I ask why you picked me up?” Nile smiled.

“Levi.” I smiled and looked down at my hands. “He requested to see you and that you be released from “the Creep and the Nose’s grasp.” I chuckled. That sounded like Levi. I was honestly just relieved he was okay.

“That’s really nice of him.” Nile nodded and smiled while looking at the road ahead of him. He started to speak but closed his mouth. “What?” I asked, bravely. Nile hummed.

“Nothing.” I nodded suspiciously. He looked at me again. “Ah, what the hell. Promise not to tell?” He asked, winking at me. I laughed.

“Of course!” I exclaimed. Nile was a really nice guy.

“Don’t mention anything or let him know I told you, but Levi is really attached to you, kid. He was adamant that you be released and either affirmed that he was okay, or that you be brought to him. I like Levi, so I’m bringing you to him.” I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading on my face. My green eyes crinkled up at the thought of Levi being demanding, for _me_ of all people.

“That’s so sweet of him!” Nile laughed.

“Like I said, don’t say anything. He’ll tell you in his own time and his own words.” I nodded. Of course, I wasn’t about to spoil this secret. _Oh, Armin!_

“Hey, am I allowed to call my friend Armin and tell him I’m okay? I kinda just left him randomly.” Nile shook his head.

“Don’t worry about that. Erwin contacted him to let him know that you were safe and sound. Levi will be returning you to your hotel after you see him anyway, so you’ll be able to appear in the flesh for him.” That was really nice of them. All of this seemed so planned.

“You guys are good at planning stuff, huh.” I chuckled. Nile laughed.

“Well, we are intelligence agents. It’s kind of what we do. We make things happen.” I smiled down at my hands again. _This is kinda cool_. I hadn’t really expected this to turn out like this, but I was happy that Levi was concerned for me. Which was selfish, of course, but how could you blame me? He had screamed at me earlier, disappeared, locked himself in his apartment, and gotten dragged out. I was worried about him. I knew he didn’t hate me or anything like that, but it’s still worrisome when the object of your affection up and treats you like shit.

Nile and I didn’t talk for the rest of the way, until he pulled up to a townhome. Levi was sitting on the porch, still disheveled, but looking a million times better than the cracked-out version I saw at his apartment. He was smoking, of course, and had a coffee next to him. Nile pulled up on the curb and stopped the car. We both exited, which was surprising. I figured I would be dropped off, because apparently, nobody in the government had any issue with dragging me places and then stranding me. He walked up to Levi.

“Levi! I brought your kid.” Levi rolled his eyes and chuckled. He stood, extending a hand to Nile, who shook it wholeheartedly. Levi let the smallest smile slip.

“Thanks. Glad to see you made it okay.” He looked at me and nodded in approval. He turned to Nile. “It’s good to see you in person.”

“Same to you. I had only heard your voice and seen your entire internet usage history. It’s not the same as meeting in person though.” Nile let out a hearty laugh. Levi just snickered.

“Hopefully, you found it entertaining.” Nile nodded.

“Absolutely. I was telling Eren that you were a brilliant guy. Keep him safe.” Nile nodded, gave a little wave, and headed back to the car. “Levi, I emailed you some details of mine. Please, get in contact in the next 24 hours so we can work out some things.” Levi nodded.

“Thanks, Nile. Drive safe.” We both watched him drive away, and once he was out of sight, I turned to Levi.

“I thought you were dead; I’m not even going to lie.” I said, breathless. He was still so _fucking hot,_ even when he looked half-dead. He smirked at me.

“It takes a lot more than that to kill me, kid. I’m glad that you’re okay. Did Mike sniff you too much? Was Moblit irritating?” He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a short breath of air. “Those two are infuriating.” I laughed.

“Yeah, I dubbed Mike the Bloodhound, and Moblit Mr. Nosy. You nailed it.” Levi nodded with a small smirk. He gestured to the townhouse.

“This is my new house I guess.” He said, pulling the keys out of his pocket. “I made Nile go get you before I went in.” _That’s so sweet, what the heck?_ I smiled.

“That’s really nice of you, Levi. I’m a little surprised, you seemed really upset at me earlier.” Levi rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. We both know I get over these things quickly. Now get inside before I leave you out here. Thanks for the clothes by the way.” I nodded and we stepped into the interior.

It was spacious. It looked small from the outside, as it was close to DC, and everything near DC was fairly tiny, but the floorplan made it look nice. It was two stories, and the entryway led to the stairs, and past the stairs down the hallway was the kitchen, half bath, and living room. Right to the right of the entrance was an office, and to the left was another office. We walked upstairs to see a small loft area and two bedrooms. The décor was definitely _not_ Levi, it was very traditional looking. He scoffed.

“I need to call Shadis and get this shitty furniture switched out. It’s going to give me a migraine looking at the weird woodwork.” I giggled. That was so typical. “Why the hell are you laughing? Look at this shit!” He gestured to the bedframe, which was ornate white wood, slightly scuffed for that “rustic feel.” “Disgusting.” He said, crossing his arms.

“It’s not that bad. I doubt you’ll be able to get it switched out within the day.” He shrugged, and then glanced at me, a devilish smile appearing on his pink lips. He flicked out his tongue along the bottom one.

“Let’s make a deal.” He said, turning to face me. He jutted out one leg and put his hands on his hips. “If I get the furniture switched out by the end of the day, you have to help me break it in.” I blushed.

“And if not?”

“Then I guess you get to break me in, huh.” My eyes opened wide.

“Levi! How risqué!” I joked, my face turning redder by the moment. _Ugh, stupid blood vessels._ He shrugged and winked at me. I smiled. _God, he’s so cute._ I moved closer to him, but he held out a hand and stopped me.

“I need a shower and a shit. You also need a shower and a shit. I’m calling someone to take you back to your hotel to see Armin and let him know you’re okay, and then I’ll have someone come pick you up in a couple of hours. I need to go to the grocery store and whatnot.” I pouted.

“You don’t want me to come?” I asked, giving him my best puppy dog eyes. He narrowed his eyes.

“You’re a fucking brat, you know? I rescue your ass from the creep and the nose, and you still pester me for shit. I should really give you a good beating.” My eyes inadvertently lit up as I saw a blush creep across his face. “Okay Jaeger, out, now.” He said, hiding his face with one hand and pointing to the doorway with the other. “We can work this out whenever you come back.” I saluted, a shit-eating grin plastered on my face.

“Absolutely Captain, anything for you~” I winked, which elicited a groan from Levi.

“You’re an absolute brat, you know that? Just a pain in my fucking ass. I should have left you.” I snorted and I saw the faintest smile on his lips.

“Alright, sure Levi, sure. I’ll get going. Call someone for me.” Levi looked at me, raking over my body with his eyes. He had the look of a predator, which made the heat in my stomach rise to both my face and my crotch. He licked his lips again, before looking at me and opening his mouth. He stopped himself though, much to my disappointment, and shook his head.

“Later. I’ll call. See you at 7. Don’t eat.” I nodded. Within five minutes, Nile was back in his sedan and was driving me to the hotel.

“I’m surprised you left so quickly, I figured you guys would…” he paused, unsure of himself, “Uh, I thought you would be there longer.” I laughed.

“I’m going back at 7.” Nile nodded and laughed.

“I’ll see you at 7 then.” He pulled up to the hotel, and I exited the car. I waved to him as he drove off and headed into the hotel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as usual, i love you guys! please let me know how the writing is, i always worry as i dont really have a beta reader or anything. i appreciate all the love and support as usual!


End file.
